Employee benefits adviser launches protection platform

Untangl has launched the cloud-based service to offer a packaged blend of benefits to employers.

The package also includes pensions, healthcare and employee health and wellbeing discounts – including gym membership and eye tests.

Untangl pre-selected preferred suppliers in each benefit category, reducing the set-up effort for time pressed small employers.

Using one-time entry of basic pensions data (name, sex, date of birth and optional salary), Untangl automatically provides quotations for fixed benefit of £100,000 in a matter of minutes, along with real time quotes for a selected range of benefits from other suppliers.

Richard Stewart, co-founder and chief executive of Untangl, said he wants to give an alternative to the market that removes the costs and complexity of the traditional employee benefits approach.

He said: “It’s no secret that advisers struggle to service the smaller employer market and that is understandable - without a radically different approach, it just doesn’t work for them. Our job is to look at what improvement is needed from the customer perspective and fix it.”

The service has no set up fee and a small monthly service charge, which will be waived during a launch offer period.

Alan Lakey, partner of Hemel Hempstead-based IFA Highclere Financial Services, called this “the way of the future”, making use of technology to speed up processes and ensure data is retained without masses of paperwork or massive offices required.

He said: “No surprise that Untangl has chosen Canada Life, as they have a slick group system in place that I and many other specialist protection advisers make use of.

“Obviously, when using just the one provider for a benefit you run the risk of being uncompetitive at times, so it will not replace the skillset available to a whole of market adviser who does not have such restrictions in place,” he added.

peter.walker@ft.com