Ceridian UK completes implementation of pension reform solution for Asda, Britain’s second largest grocery retailer

Ceridian UK, one of the UK’s leading HR and payroll providers, has completed a successful implementation project for Asda, Britain’s second largest grocery retailer, to help it meet its new pension reform obligations as a large employer. Ceridian provided its new Auto Enrolment module to Asda covering the 175,000 colleagues the retailer employs.

David Woodward, chief product and innovation officer, at Ceridian UK said: “This contract was a significant one for us as Asda is our largest payroll customer and for it to select our off-the-shelf solution for pension reform, while others were building custom one-off solutions, demonstrates its confidence in our integrated payroll/pension solution that should form a template for others to follow in a cost-effective and risk-free way.

“Large employers have approached pension auto enrolment in very different ways. Asda was very clear in its approach. It wanted every aspect of compliance to be fully respected and easily auditable. It recognised that as Asda’s payroll provider, Ceridian was best placed to provide the optimal solution because payroll has all the data and is best placed to do the auto enrolment determination while also handling sophisticated salary sacrifice arrangements the moment pay is calculated.

“Our Auto Enrolment module supports and automates many aspects of the new administrative burdens that pension reform introduces, from generating mandatory communication to their colleagues and managing the postponement periods to handling refunds in the payroll if a colleague chooses to opt-out. This reduces Asda’s manual administration significantly. The module also manages the electronic exchange of data between our payroll and pension solution and Asda’s pension provider, Legal & General.”

Steve Jones, pensions manager, at Asda, said: “Auto enrolment is a big change that brings with it a whole host of complicated processing requirements that need to be carried out in very tight timescales and repeated every month. Choosing the right systems solution was an important decision.

“The Ceridian solution is fully automated and means that our colleagues are assessed, communications issued, contributions deducted and reported to our pension provider with hardly any manual intervention.

“The implementation project was significant and the team at Ceridian was an integral part of ensuring we delivered on time.

“All in all, we are pleased we chose Ceridian as our partner for delivering auto enrolment.”

The Ceridian Auto Enrolment module is delivered to Asda through HRevolution, Ceridian’s Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution designed to flex with an organisation’s needs.

Notes to Editors:

Asda Asda can trace its roots back to two Yorkshire brothers, Peter and Fred Asquith, and a group of Yorkshire farmers who formed Hindell's Dairies in the 1920s. In 1965, Asquith and Dairies joined forces to become Asda. In June 1999, Asda was acquired by Walmart, and in recent years, has grown to become Britain’s second largest supermarket.

As of June 30, 2012, Asda operated 544 retail units comprising 32 Supercentres, 310 Asda Superstores, 27 Asda Living and 175 Asda Supermarkets. In the UK, it employs over 175,000 associates.

Asda was named Britain’s Favourite Supermarket at the 2011 Grocer Gold Awards. And for the 14th consecutive year, Asda was selected as the nation’s cheapest supermarket.

For more information, visit www.asda.com

For further press information, please contact Jeremy Snook at JSPR on 01235 227572. Mobile: 07957 867139. E-mail: jeremy.snook@jspr.co.uk

Notes to Editors:

Ceridian

Ceridian is one of the world’s leading HR outsourcing and payroll service providers.  In the UK, it works with over 5,000 businesses, large and small, delivering quality, accurate payroll and value-added HR services.

Ceridian provides national and international payroll and HR transactional services including HR outsourcing, employee benefits, workforce management, expense management, absence management plus employee assistance programmes.

Innovative Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions are also offered to clients who need a technology solution but prefer to employ their own people.  These leading-edge IT solutions can be purchased as a complete totally-integrated package, or in scalable modules, designed to flex with organisational needs.

Through decades of global experience, people capability and first class delivery of world class HR transactional solutions, Ceridian increases quality, reduces risk, boosts revenue, lowers cost and frees time for its customers to focus on their priorities.

From multinationals to small start-ups, Ceridian’s KnowHow enables their HR development journey.

Ceridian is winner of the Payroll Provider Award, Payroll Software Product Award and Technology Development Award in the 2012 Payroll World Awards.

For more information, visit www.ceridian.co.uk

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