Hand Off Pension Plan Administration to a Top Expert

September 28, 2022

Organizations that have a hands-on approach to pension plan administration may actually have their hands full. Every pension plan is unique and the complexity can lead to costly administrative mistakes by internal staff.  

Today, pension plans require actuarial, administrative and compliance expertise. These are not typically the skill sets and experience of internal staff members for most organizations – and these kinds of highly-qualified employees aren’t easy to find.  

Outsourcing offers the confidence in knowing your plan is being administered accurately, efficiently and cost-effectively. 

Relieve Administrative Burden Through Outsourcing

No matter the plan’s size, maintaining an in-house pension administration platform is often a costly option for carrying out a variety of duties including: 

• Providing accurate and timely benefit calculations 
• Efficiently delivering benefit election kits 
• Properly managing participant and beneficiary data 
• Promptly and accurately processing and fulfilling benefit elections 
• Prudently and proactively providing direction to trustees  
• Attentively managing cases  
• Quickly and knowledgably responding to participant/beneficiary inquiries via phone and email 

These are day-to-day responsibilities, and they may compete for the attention of internal resources who are focused on other business issues. A lack of focus on plan administration may result in errors – and those errors can have consequences to your organization, including fiduciary liability and fines from the Department of Labor (DOL), Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC). 

Employers can find a cost-effective solution to plan administration challenges through a partner whose expertise extends to offering professional pension co-sourcing or outsourcing services. USI Consulting Group’s (USICG) pension administration solutions include a dedicated team of experienced professionals, leading edge technology and four service models to outsource administration and support employees: 

With each of the service models, USICG utilizes proprietary technology through customized systems designed to handle unique retirement plan provisions and plan sponsor requirements. Complex plans with unique administration requirements are a specialty of USICG retirement plan consultants and we’ll work with you to determine which of the four service models will best meet your organization’s needs.

In addition, USICG benefit service representatives are pension plan specialists. These specialists resolve 84% of participant issues in the first call, and 96% of participant issues are taken care of within two business days. 

USICG is a top 10 provider of defined benefit plan administration and outsourcing.¹ While other consulting firms are scaling back pension consulting services, USICG is expanding pension plan services to continue to provide innovative solutions for your organization today and well into the future.

Case Study: Administration Hand Off Pays Off

Transitioning pension plan administration to the USICG Benefits Service Center proved to be advantageous for a food manufacturing company in the Northeast U.S. The organization had two pension plans (one for union employees and another that was frozen). The administrative duties of the plans were overwhelming to the Human Resources (HR) staff and the client hired USICG to administer their plans. The USICG Benefits Service Center provides knowledgeable guidance to participants in completing paperwork and processing their payments. 

 Contracting outsourcing duties with USICG saved the company nearly $26,400 of HR time annually performing plan calculations and administering the plan. In addition, the hand off to USICG significantly improved the accuracy of the calculations and overall participant satisfaction.² 

1 USI Consulting Group has been recognized as one of the 10 largest defined benefit administration service providers in PLANSPONSOR’s 2021 Defined Benefit Administration Survey, as measured by both participants and numbers of plans fully outsourced.
2 Actual results will vary and are dependent upon various factors including, but not limited to: number of participants, total plan asset value, management fees, administrative costs and services provided.

This information is provided solely for educational purposes and is not to be construed as investment, legal or tax advice. Prior to acting on this information, we recommend that you seek independent advice specific to your situation from a qualified investment/legal/tax professional.