By KLTV Newsdesk –
A local Charity based in Huddersfield has come up with a new solution to support staff during the current cost of living crisis.
Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice, which employs over 140 staff to support children who have life-shortening conditions, has formed a partnership with the financial well-being platform Maji, to implement a salary exchange to support those most affected by the financial crisis.
Looking after the well-being of its people has always been important to Forget Me Not but since the advent of the financial crisis, the charity has taken steps to support its staff more than ever before.
In a salary exchange, the employee agrees that their employer will pay the total contribution on their behalf. In return, they ‘exchange’ a portion of their salary equivalent to their usual contribution.
The result is that the employee’s pension contribution is paid into the pension account before National Insurance tax is taken on their salary.
This means that both the employee and employer stop paying National Insurance on the portion of the salary that is the employee’s pension contribution, which results in a saving of 13.8% of the contribution amount for employers, and 2-12% for the employee depending on their tax bracket.
Nici O’Dowd, Finance and Corporate Services Director at Forget Me Not, said: “We are a people organisation but, as a charity, we simply cannot afford to award pay rises in line with rising inflation. So, we wanted to be proactive in finding a way to enable everyone to get more in their pay packet each month.”
“After shopping around and doing lots of research, we decided on the salary exchange pension scheme with Maji.”
In applying the scheme, Forget Me Not found that the tax-efficient savings would not only help support their employees with significant savings but also benefit the charity as well.
“At the heart of this decision was the need to help our employees with their long-term financial goals and Maji is helping us to achieve this,” adds Nici.
“We have many long-standing employees and so we want to work with them to maximise their income over their time working together with us.”
Nici agrees that the onboarding of Maji’s salary exchange scheme was easy, with everyone having their own automatic opt-in and login with their personal details already inputted.
Speaking about the partnership, CEO of Maji Sahil Sethi, said: “We’re so pleased to be working with Forget Me Not.
“Through looking after the transition to and organisation of the salary exchange for companies, we know we’re removing the headaches and time-consuming nature of this exercise, which can be lengthy for those unfamiliar with the process.
“Plus, it’s embedded into Maji’s holistic financial wellbeing support, which goes beyond pensions to help employees with their everyday money management, too.”
Nici concluded that using Maji via the app was a “no-brainer” for the whole team.
“It’s easy, effortless and staff can see their financial goals and progress at the touch of a button,” she said.
“Expert coaching and advice are on hand too to ensure our staff feel supported and in control at all times.
“Without our team we wouldn’t be able to provide vital support and care to the children and families who need us.
“It’s important for us to invest in them – and that’s what we’re doing with the help from Maji.”