NEST transactional site 'as simple as eBay'

The National Employment Savings Trust's transactional website promises to be as 'simple to use as eBay'.

Professional Pensions has seen a sneak peek of the site - which is currently being trialled by 80 companies of all sizes - and is designed to cater to both employers setting up and running pension schemes and employees managing their retirement pot.

NEST's success is closely tied to the website as its pension schemes will be entirely administered online. To be viable, the corporation said it must attract at least 2 million members by the end of the staging period in 2016.

Speaking at a demonstration of the site, NEST Corporation chief executive Tim Jones (pictured) said the website is straightforward and easy-to-use.

"If you can sell something on eBay, you can use NEST," he said.

The site is split into an employer and employee-side and is largely constructed around the concept of apps.

For employers setting up their pension scheme, every section of required information is headed under a luminous yellow icon. Once each section is completed, this icon fades to grey or acquires a tick.

The set-up process will be complete once all the icons are extinguished or ticked off.

NEST has been careful to create a site that can accommodate employers with one or two employees to enrol, to those with hundreds.

It has been trialled with 80 companies of all sizes, ranging from micro-businesses to a large retailer.

There are added specifications for large companies including a layered security system where certain users, such as finance directors, can be given access to specific sections of the website.

The site also allows employers to split their workers into groups and create separate pension schemes for each.

Companies can choose a different payment type for each group - with a choice of direct debit (the preferred option), direct credit or debit card - along with the frequency and amount of each payment.

NEST head of customer experience Pete Halsor said this would create a "matrix", with different groups of people on one axis and different payments on the other.

"We think this sort of treatment allows both small and large employers to use the site," he said.

NEST offers three options for payroll information - also designed to fit the needs of small, medium and large businesses.

There is a manual option, a file upload or a file transfer - the latter geared towards large companies with their own payroll software. Middleware is being created to help extract the necessary information from these files.

On the member side, the website allows individuals to manage their pension 'pot' throughout their working career.

If an employee leaves a company and later rejoins NEST, the system will automatically match the name and NI number and reopen their 'pot'. NEST says this will relieve companies of additional paperwork.

Members can directly edit their investment options - allowing them to change the level and frequency of their payments instead of going through their company.

Employees will also be able to pick their investment methods online, choosing between ethical, Sharia, higher risk, lower growth or pre-retirement fund options.

NEST transactional website screenshots (illustrative purposes only - details may change prior to launch):