Portsmouth City Council ('the council') has established a single supplier Framework agreement for the provision of a Salary Sacrifice Additional Voluntary Contribution (AVC) scheme.

The Framework will also be open for access by other UK Public Sector Organisations which include UK Public Sector Bodies, including Central Government, Local Authorities, Health, Police, Fire and Rescue, Education and Devolved Administrations.

Portsmouth City Council introduced the first Salary Sacrifice Additional Voluntary Contribution (SSAVC) in the UK and currently delivers the service in house. The Authority are now establishing the framework to enable the service to be delivered by an external provider.

SSAVCs are currently available to employers with Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) and NHS Pension Scheme members (this may be expanded to other organisations at a later date), and it is an employer's decision whether they implement a scheme. The key advantages are that SSAVC members can achieve significant growth figures on their savings whilst at the same time the employer also makes savings.

A full list of Authorities able to access the agreement was published in appendix 1 of the tender documents.

In setting up the Framework, the Council does not guarantee that any call-offs contracts will be awarded once the Framework is procured, that no form of exclusivity will be created and provides no guarantee of volume of work from either itself of other contracting authorities.

The following is a summary of the requirements, for all information and full details please refer to the Specification given in Schedule 1 of the Framework Terms.

The Supplier shall provide a service that includes but is not limited to the following:

• Advice and guidance for Salary Sacrifice Additional Voluntary Contributions;

• Employee engagement and communication across the workforce;

• Integrated payroll reporting;

• Automated application and amendment processing;

• Seamless processes with investment providers;

• Onsite employee presentations;

• Interactive employee Webinars promoting all aspects of Financial Wellbeing;

• Individual one-to-one sessions for employees to receive guidance from experts;

• Provision of a web chat service and telephone helplines to support employees;

• Calculators to provide employees with retirement impacts and scenarios

• Full compliance with HMRC guidelines and Employment law;

• Information Security and Audit Trails

Optional Services

The following "Optional Services" shall also be made available to Participating Authorities

for further information refer to the Specification given in schedule 1 of the Framework Terms:

• Standard Additional Voluntary Contributions

• Investment Advice

• Additional Financial Services