The Co-operative Group

Pensions modeller

Following the change to a career average final salary basis, Co-op asked us to develop a member-specific modeller which would (a) help existing DB final salary members understand the difference in projected pension and (b) new employees project what they might get if they join the scheme.

After asking 6 simple questions about their existing (if any) pension with the Co-op, the modeller is a simple and easy-to-use online tool, which allows the user to change parameters such as early retirement and tax-free cash, through sliders and on-screen controls.

Everything is presented graphically with clear signposts to the important numbers. The user can also see the effect of paying AVCs, which was considered a crucial issue given the possible effect on higher earners of changing to CARE.