The Wolseley Group has moved its £230m defined contribution scheme to a master trust following a bid process managed by trustee firm Vidett.   

The plumbing and heating supplier has chosen Aon MasterTrust for its £230m DC scheme with more than 13,000 members. As well as pensions, Aon now provides Wolseley members with integrated life cover broking, administration and claims settlement.   

Wolseley’s reward manager Ant Donaldson said: “We really wanted to focus on optimising outcomes for our members, so we spent a lot of time on comparing investment performance and strategies, supported by specialist consultants. We also looked at the support given, plus the range and accessibility of the different options available when members come to access their benefits - together with ongoing engagement with members throughout their pension journeys.”  

Among others, Aon supported the transition by working alongside Wolseley during an employee consultation, “providing clear and engaging communications” which included a series of presentations and webinars, said Donaldson.  

“It then put in place a joint post-implementation communication plan to deliver a step-change in members’ engagement with their Wolseley pensions,” he added. 

Aon highlighted its provision of death in service benefits as part of the deal. Tony Pugh, partner and EMEA DC solutions leader at Aon, said: “Alongside looking for a pension provider that would work closely with them, Wolseley needed to ensure the ongoing efficient management of their staff death-in-service benefits. Aon was already building life assurance master trust solutions to meet a wide range of client needs, so we were able to accelerate the delivery of these to provide Wolseley and its employees uninterrupted cover via our fully outsourced solution.”