Part of Project Innovate, the Sandbox provides firms with support to navigate the financial regulatory system, and aims to create a ‘safe space’ in which businesses can test innovative products and services in a live environment while ensuring that consumers are protected.

benefits.market is a self-service portal through which employers can browse and purchase Group Life insurance, Group Income Protection, Group Critical Illness, Health Cash Plans and Private Medical insurance for their companies.

Every employer that uses pensionsync (via a select group of payroll & AE middleware software companies) is given a free benefits.market account. Once activated, the technology automatically generates comparison tables based on analysis of payroll data, as payroll data flows through pensionsync.

The companies which have partnered with pensionsync to deliver benefits.market to their customers are Star Computers, Qtac, AutoEnroll.me and Accentra.

The powerful combination of pensionsync + benefits.market has the capability to both lower the burden of automatic enrolment for employers and their payroll agents, and simultaneously find and present value for money group risk insurance and protection policies.

pensionsync’s technology can generate prices for insurance policies and display them in comparison tables in fractions of a second, removing the need for employee benefit consultants to perform the same tasks manually. Employers can often grossly overestimate the cost of these foundation life and sickness benefits, and can be reluctant to appoint an adviser to obtain quotes. Furthermore, advisers are not motivated to seek out and win business from smaller employers because of the smaller commissions associated with SME group policies. These barriers (to efficient life insurance distribution for smaller employers) are overcome by this technology.

Benefits.market is being launched at a time when workers and their families across the country face a reduction in work-related death and sickness benefits. Government and industry has been looking for new ways to broaden engagement with these highly efficient group insurance propositions.

systemsync is today also announcing its launch partners for benefits.market: AXA, Aviva, Canada Life and Ellipse. These companies provide high quality group risk and medical insurance policies specifically designed for SMEs.

Will Lovegrove, CEO, systemsync, says:

“I’m delighted that our benefits.market platform has been included in the FCA’s sandbox scheme. It is a bold and visionary tool which can help broaden engagement with start ups and SMEs and get these critical covers to more of the UK workforce.

“This innovation has the potential to change the way employers review and purchase benefits for their employees. Benefits.market expands the distribution of these types of insurance and makes financial protection simpler, cheaper and more accessible for employers of all sizes.