Registered Providers - Staff Engagement Without Increasing Pay

Few RPs can claim not to have been affected by increasing costs and cuts in local government expenditure over the last year or so.

It is clear the Government is expecting to obtain more from the housing association sector but at much less overall cost. Fortunately, there is something that many registered providers (RPs) can do to increase people's take home pay without increasing their gross pay.

A large number of RPs have employees who participate in the Social Housing Pension Scheme (SHPS); typically, those earning £20,000 or more per annum. There is an opportunity to improve the take-home pay of these people and to reduce employment costs at the same time. This may be achieved where individuals elect to pay their pension contributions through "salary sacrifice", something that is commonly associated with defined contribution arrangements, rather than defined benefit schemes, such as SHPS.