UnitedHealth Group has launched an online platform to manage and communicate benefits to its employees based in the UK and the Philippines.

The US healthcare group, which employs 133,000 staff worldwide, will use the Darwin platform, administered by Thomsons Online Benefits, to streamline benefits administration, governance and compliance across several regions.

The organisation previously managed the administration and communication of its employee benefits manually, which was time-consuming and prone to error.

In the UK, the platform will be used to comply with legislative requirements, such as auto-enrolment. UnitedHealth Group’s staging date is May 2014.

The platform includes access to a range of benefits, such as a group personal pension (GPP) plan, life assurance, private medical insurance, health assessments for employees and their dependents, childcare vouchers and gym membership.

Following the UK and the Philippines launch, the platform will be rolled out in Canada, Ireland and India.

Chris Wakely, head of Thomsons Online Benefits North America, said: “Darwin is enabling UnitedHealth Group to manage its current global population more effectively, and is providing the flexibility to easily build on any potential business acquisitions as it continues to grow.

“It has a global strategy to drive an HR self-service culture, which includes enabling its people to take ownership and control over their benefits.”