Equiniti Group has harmonised its flexible benefits offering and reduced benefits costs to staff, four years after the merger of its Equiniti and Xafinity businesses.

Both businesses previously offered a flex plan. The election period for its new harmonised plan opens this month, with employees’ selections taking effect from January 2012.

Clancy Murphy, group HR director, said: “Bringing the businesses together gave us an opportunity to find better prices for staff, to see whether there was anything else we could offer, and whether there was a smarter way to do it.”

Equiniti also set out to make every benefit cheaper for staff, and did this in most cases. For example, it has reduced the cost of single-person private medical insurance (PMI) from £900 to £500 a year.

Murphy added: “PMI is expensive for staff to purchase through their flex pot. We have had an escalating cost because we had a small population using it and the insurer was still putting up the cost. We looked at how to change the risk profile and bring the cost down without reducing the benefit."

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