Why do Outplacement Companies choose Birchwood?

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Redundancy is a time for big decisions. Whether it comes as a welcome opportunity to take early retirement or a devastating blow, anyone affected will almost certainly need to take action where their finances are concerned.

Since 1982, Birchwood Investment Management has become the preferred choice of the UK’s leading outplacement companies.

In that time, we have helped thousands of people to make informed choices about their financial futures and to start moving forward.

Introducing Birchwood Investment Management

Working with Birchwood brings you many benefits. We understand that your reputation and the results you achieve are crucial to your ongoing success, which means that your partner organisations must work to the same high professional standards as you do yourself.

Your partner organisations must also deliver cost-effective solutions which add real value to what you do.

That’s what you’ll find at Birchwood.

When you work with us, we’ll provide services and support to make your life easier. Our highly qualified team are specialists in their field, so you can be sure your clients will receive expert and knowledgeable advice. We’re flexible too and will tailor the content and format of our advice sessions to every type of audience.

We are as comfortable delivering one-to-one sessions with senior executives as we are running workshops that provide delegates with a down-to-earth guide to the complexities of the benefits system – as well as savings and investment options – which is something very few other independent financial advisers can offer.

We also understand that there are times when you have to move quickly. You’ll find us extremely responsive: if you need us on site in days, or even hours, we’ll be there. We will travel to wherever you need us, at short notice, and have delivered workshops and advice sessions as far afield as Aberdeen in the north and Cornwall in the south.

You can also be sure of our complete impartiality. The feedback we receive from our clients tells us people really appreciate that we don’t subject them to high pressure sales techniques. What we do deliver is clear, practical information to help them make the right choices.

That’s why trust and confidence are words often mentioned when our clients talk about us, and why we enjoy long-term relationships with them.

We’re professionally regulated too: the quality of our services and standards are authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority as an independent financial adviser (IFA), and we are totally independent of any financial institution.

But don’t just take our word for it. We’ve been working with some of our outplacement company clients for many years and we’ve asked them to explain why…

Why choose Birchwood?

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Our Management TeamTrevor Simms

Trevor founded Birchwood Investment Management Ltd in 1982. His holistic approach to investment planning, and experience in working with many different types of portfolios for individuals and corporates, mean that clients benefit from sound and considered advice at all stages of their financial planning.

Recognised within the financial planning industry as an expert in his field, Trevor has a relaxed and straightforward approach that makes the complex issues of investment planning accessible to a wide range of audiences.

Wesley Fox

Wesley joined Birchwood Investment Management Ltd as a director in 2005, and has more than ten years of knowledge and experience in the financial and mortgage markets. He offers a bespoke, individually tailored service to meet the needs of both corporate and private clients.

Thorough research allows him to deliver the highest quality independent advice relating to investments, pensions and mortgages, and his recommendations incorporate comprehensive appraisals of clients’ current and future financial requirements.

Margaret Gray

A director at Birchwood Investment Management Ltd for more than 12 years, Margaret offers a wealth of experience to personal and corporate clients in personal financial planning and investment management.

Her knowledge of the investment markets and down-to-earth approach provides Margaret’s clients with peace of mind in all aspects of their financial planning. Margaret specialises in advising clients who may be facing a career change as a result of redundancy and works closely with many outplacement organisations.

Cheryl Willis

Cheryl joined Birchwood Investment Management Ltd in 1993 and provides clients with expert advice in all aspects of personal financial planning and pensions, a particular specialism.

Her experience in areas of pension planning, occupational pension transfers, investment planning and protection planning provides clients with real peace of mind. Cheryl’s goal is to develop a long-term relationship with her clients, ensuring they feel comfortable and secure that their financial future is in good hands.

Steve Hawes

As Birchwood Investment Management Ltd’s specialist investment analyst, Steve supports advisers at the company and clients in respect of fund management. He combines years of experience in the financial markets with an approach to fund and asset management notable for mature enthusiasm, energy, honesty and a commitment to secure the widest and best choices.

Steve’s expertise gives Birchwood a resource rarely found outside large fund management environments, helping clients keep control of their investments at all times.

Cepec Career Management describes its services as “person-centred”, a phrase underlining the continuity of an approach that began with its launch in the 1970s as one of the UK’s first outplacement providers.

Back then, founder John Flouch recognised the value of counselling in navigating the emotional journey that begins with redundancy, acknowledged in the organisation’s original name: the Centre for Executive Professional Employment Counselling.

Since then, Cepec has gone on its own journey, including a seven-year period that began in 1999 as part of recruitment giants TMP Worldwide group. Since 2006, it has been independently run by joint managing directors Jane Lea and Giles Brady, delivering services through a team of consultants across the UK from its London HQ.

Jane’s commitment to quality service is absolute – to the point where she says: “I don’t employ anyone as a consultant unless they are professionally qualified and have been through redundancy. Unless you have felt and experienced it, you find it very difficult to empathise” – which is why Birchwood’s relationship with Cepec has been so successful.

Joint projects have included working with staff affected by the high profile merger in 2007 of the Commission for Racial Equality, the Disability Rights Commission and the Equal Opportunities Commission into the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

Jane says: “We began working with Birchwood more than15 years ago, after we realised that an awful lot of people were taking redundancy, but, as a result of bad advice, were making the wrong decisions in terms of what they were going to do with pensions and so on.

“Some people leave organisations with more money than they have ever had in their lives, so what they do with it and how they manage it is really important. Through Birchwood’s financial seminars, workshops and one-to-one meetings, we can cover everything from what benefits people might be entitled to to short, medium and long-term investments and how to avoid unnecessary tax.

“The workshops give people a chance to bounce ideas off each other, which is psychologically good, while the confidential one-to-ones are where they can get down to the real nitty-gritty. Birchwood provides the facts people need to make informed decisions, which is so important – we want to make sure people don’t look back and regret missed opportunities.

“At Cepec, we have very high professional standards and Trevor Simms and his team at Birchwood are equally professional in their own field. We share a great deal of common ground with Birchwood – responsiveness, for example, employing good people and training them well – and they enhance our own offering through their high quality, impartial advice and services.”

“...they enhance our own offering through their high quality, impartial advice and services.”

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Cepec Career Management

Quality service and customer focus is at the heart of the way HR consultancy Chiumento does business. The privately-owned company was founded in 1994, and the founder and Chief Executive Sarah Chiumento is still closely involved today. The company has years of experience in delivering career management and HR consultancy, plus a value-driven approach, which has helped it to build a significant reputation in the fields of career transition, talent management and interim management, delivering services nationally from offices in London, Manchester and Oxford.

Client services director Olwyn Burgess says that awareness of the Chiumento ethos is a key factor in its long-standing and successful relationship with Birchwood. She explains: “We need to know that whoever we recommend to our clients will do a good job. That is what Birchwood delivers and, in doing so, has become a trusted partner.”

Birchwood was already an established Chiumento consultant when Olwyn joined the company in 2006, but she had previously worked with the firm at two other organisations during her 18-year HR career. In her new role, in which she is responsible for all aspects of service delivery to clients, she was more than happy for the relationship to continue.

She says: “If we are working with an organisation that may be closing a factory or depot, we are often asked to provide financial advice to the people who are leaving. It is then more cost-effective for us for Birchwood to go in and run a workshop on financial planning or retirement or pensions.

“Birchwood will provide everything from a workshop, giving an overview of financial planning to people who have never really thought about it in much detail, to a session delivered in conjunction with the organisation’s own pensions provider, to one-to-ones with senior executives, who are much more financially savvy.

“Whatever they do, it will be specific and tailored – for example, in giving individual advice, they ensure they have a thorough understanding of that person’s attitude to financial risk and their current and future circumstances, so that they can advise them accordingly.

“Our brand is very important to us and Birchwood is very aware of the importance of our brand to our clients, which is why they have become a trusted partner. With Birchwood, we can be sure of a responsive service and positive feedback.”

“With Birchwood, we can be sure of a responsive service and positive feedback.”

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Chiumento

HDA is a world-class organisation in every sense. Since the company was founded in the UK in 1979, it has established itself internationally in more than 20 countries, providing talent management, career management and outplacement solutions to names recognised in households around the globe, including Universal Music, Henkel, ITN, Kingston University and DHL.

Building long-term relationships with its clients is a priority for HDA. That also applies to organisations to which it may refer the people it supports and counsels through redundancy, redeployment and early retirement.

So choosing trusted partners is of crucial important to HDA co-founder and chief executive officer Tricia Dicks. Since 2002, following an initial approach to Tricia by Trevor Simms, one of those partners has been Birchwood.

HDA uses Birchwood to provide one-to-one financial advice to people in managerial positions, who may still be at a relatively early stage of their career, in the middle stages or heading towards retirement. Tricia says: “Some will be very sophisticated and have a lot of money at their disposal, others will need basic debt and financial guidance. What is surprising is how many of even the most senior people have been

so busy working that they haven’t spent any time on their own affairs.

“It’s not just about investments, though. Trevor and Birchwood will put in the time to understand a company’s pension scheme, which can be very complex if it has gone through several different incarnations and ownerships.”

As part of the HDA ethos of long-term relationships, Tricia and her team need to feel complete confidence in the financial advisers they use, which is why she is happy to work with Birchwood. She explains: “What we aim to do in referring people is to select organisations to match their needs. One of the things we emphasis is that financial advice is not a one-off – we hope they have an ongoing relationship.”

In every aspect of Birchwood’s service – including close co-operation between the two firms’ admin teams and the speed of Birchwood’s response – Tricia is more than happy with the collaboration. The hallmark of the relationship is, she says: “If you ask for something, you know it will be delivered.”

She adds: “HDA monitor the quality of our own work and that of our suppliers, and we have always been very happy with Birchwood. Their work is consistently of a high standard.”

“...we have always been very happy with Birchwood. Their work is consistently of a high standard.”

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HDA

There’s a certain irony that something that we may spend years looking forward to – a comfortable and active retirement – is all too often given fairly short shrift at the planning stage, despite the major life change that it represents. That’s something the Retirement Counselling Service (RCS) has been working to put right for 30 years. Originally established by Legal & General in 1978, following a management buy-out in 1998 RCS has been run by managing director Derek Wildey as an independent organisation, providing in-house and external pre-retirement seminars and services to around 700 client businesses across the UK from its head office in Amersham, Buckinghamshire.

For Derek, previously a senior civil servant in the old Department of Social Security, that independence is an absolute. He says: “We don’t sell any products or services and we don’t allow our speakers to sell products or services. Anyone who tries doesn’t get used again.”

So the fact that Birchwood has been successfully delivering financial workshops on behalf of RCS for some 20 years is testament to the quality – and impartiality – of its services. Derek says: “We have a good relationship with Birchwood and we share similar aims. We both believe in helping people to make informed choices.

“People who are retiring have to make big decisions, yet their awareness of financial matters may be limited. For example, they will receive a pension but do they opt for a lump sum and take a reduced pension? There’s no one right answer, it’s different for everyone.

“Birchwood will provide information and discuss the pros and cons, making it easy for people to ask the questions that are worrying them but that they have been too shy or scared to bring out into the open. Because they know their industry so well, they can go down routes that give people alternatives, so if someone asks about equity release, for example, they might say ‘If that interests you, you might like to think about this or that option’.

“We receive positive feedback on Birchwood from our attendees because they discuss, they don’t sell, and that makes people much more comfortable. We like the fact that Birchwood are confident enough in their own professionalism to advise our delegates to see more than one financial adviser, make comparison of the advice given and choose an adviser they are happy with.

“Birchwood want to open people’s minds to the different options and give them the facts they need to make informed choices about their money, whether they manage it themselves or use a financial adviser. That is why we have complete confidence in Birchwood.”

“We receive positive feedback on Birchwood from our attendees because they discuss, they don’t sell...”

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The Retirement Counselling Service

Right Management can trace its history of helping people coping with significant change back to 1908, when Percy Coutts founded a company specialising in finding opportunities for expatriates returning from overseas.

That company has itself gone through some significant change. In 2002, Coutts Consulting was acquired by Right Management Consultants, which in turn was taken over in 2004 by Philadelphia-based Manpower, a global organisation with 300 offices in 52 countries worldwide. Today, Right Management operates from locations across the UK, supporting and advising 15,000 people leaving the armed forces and around 20,000 individuals exiting other employment each year.

Many of those people benefit from the services of Birchwood Investment Management, with which Right Management, and its predecessor, have been working for a number of years. Nicola Deas, practice leader, career transition, says: “One of the first concerns many people have will be their finances, whether redundancy has been forced on them or whether it gives the opportunity for early retirement.

“Birchwood will come and talk to people on an individual basis or in a group seminar about the issues they need

to consider, at a time when they are likely to need to be refocusing their finances.

“Redundancy is a shock, whether it is expected or not, so we need to be responsive, in order to pick people up quickly at the most appropriate time. Part of that process of reassurance is using experts to provide sound guidance – not to tell them what to do, but who will help them to ask sensible questions, to help them make sense of the situation.

“That’s what Birchwood does, while adapting what they say and the language they use to the individual needs of the people involved, who can range from blue collar workers to chief executives and whose financial situations will be very different. Some of these people may have their own independent financial advisers so it is useful for them to check their advice with Birchwood, so see if they are going down the right road.

“Feedback from people who have been supported by Birchwood tells us that they find the advice really helpful. At a time when people are also feeling vulnerable and concerned, and need reassurance, we also know that Birchwood helps people to know they are asking themselves the right questions, which is vital to making decisions in a logical way.”

“Feedback from people who have been supported by Birchwood tells us that they find the advice really helpful.”

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Right Management

People Development Team has been quick to make its mark in the fields of leadership and management development, career management and outplacement. Since it was founded in 1998, the Hertfordshire-based company has gone from strength to strength, attracting clients as diverse as Colchester Zoo, HM Revenue & Customs, Humberside Fire Service and Young’s Brewery, and winning a National Training Award in 2007 for work with higher level teaching assistants in Essex schools.

In delivering its outplacement services, the company’s goal is simple: to empower and motivate employees by providing emotional and practical support – including financial advice – through what is potentially a very difficult time.

It has found an ideal partner in Birchwood Investment Management, which provides financial workshops and one-to-ones as part of their outplacement package. The success of the relationship is underlined by the fact that Birchwood now also works with some of People Development Team’s partners on personal financial issues.

Managing Director Heather Butler explains: “We first became involved with Birchwood in 2004, when we were supporting Diageo in closing a Guinness brewery in London. Birchwood were recommended to us by an accountant, a member of staff who had used them previously and another business we had worked with – when we put those three recommendations together, it seemed a good idea to talk to them.”

Since then, the two companies have built up a productive relationship that is based on partnership working, sometimes in challenging situations. Ellie Hughes, head of career management at People Development Team says: “Birchwood are always very professional. We have worked with some organisations that have been very demanding, but Birchwood don’t place demands on us and they don’t complain.”

Heather agrees: “Birchwood help us and lift work from us, rather than creating more work for us to do, and are very easy to get along with. They deliver a caring element in the way they work that fits in with our own culture, while their approach is one that builds trust and instils confidence.”

While redundancy can signal an end to one way of life, People Development Team prefer to see it as an opportunity for a fresh start, which is why independent financial advice from professionals like Birchwood can be vital in shaping a new future.

Heather says: “Individuals need to think about what they are going to do with their money. With Birchwood, they can look at their options for lump sums, pensions or anything else they need to be doing.

“Although their employer may have in-house resources, most employees want a second opinion – and if someone has been in employment for a long time, they may want to cut their ties with the people who are making them redundant. Birchwood’s advice can help them to move on.”

“Birchwood help us and lift work from us, rather than creating more work for us to do, and are very easy to get along with.”

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People Development Team

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“Inspiring solutions, delivered with excellence” is the way that Penna chief executive Gary Browning describes the company’s philosophy. It’s a philosophy that has worked well for London-based Penna. Since it began life as Sanders and Sidney in 1974, it has grown organically and by acquiring other HR consultancies that broaden the scope of its services, so they now support every stage of the employee lifecycle.

Today Penna is the UK’s number one provider of outplacement services and operates worldwide through a network of more than 200 offices and partnerships, working with high profile clients including the BBC, BP, the government’s Department for Work and Pensions, Flybe, Tesco and both retail and investment banks.

A key part of Penna’s success has been to work only with people who share its philosophy, which explains why the company has enjoyed a successful relationship with Birchwood Investment Management since 1986.

Rosemary Smart, head of client services, has worked with Birchwood since she joined Penna in 2005. At the time, much of Birchwood’s work for Penna focused on providing financial review workshops at Penna’s offices in London’s West End, but Rosemary was quick to spot the potential for development.

She says: “Once I knew how good they were, I wanted to roll that out on a national basis and now they work across all Penna’s UK offices. In fact, they are the only supplier of their kind we use that is truly national.”

Rosemary highlights Birchwood’s understanding of Penna’s business and its clients as a key reason why the relationship works so well, along with their flexibility in delivering everything from one-to-one consultancy to large group sessions for Penna clients across all sectors and industries.

She says: “They are very, very flexible – we can just ring up and say we need them for an assignment in X, Y or Z tomorrow and it is never a problem. They are patient too – I’m not always easy to get hold of, but they are very persistent!

“We also receive consistently positive feedback on the way that Birchwood’s consultants are able to demystify what can be quite complex issues. They target the level of their advice to their audience and don’t speak in financial mumbo jumbo, but make things really easy to understand. They are also incredibly approachable and easy to talk to.”

The quality of Birchwood’s service and support is highlighted by a recent project, which involved Penna working with a major public sector organisation that required financial awareness workshops up and down the country, over a period of several months, targeting potential candidates for voluntary redundancy.

Now that a second phase of the initiative is planned, Penna has already indicated that Birchwood would again be its preferred supplier – clear evidence of what Rosemary describes as the “productive working relationship” shared by the two businesses.

“Once I knew how good they were, I wanted to roll that out on a national basis and now they work across all Penna’s UK offices.”

Penna

Birchwood Investment Management Ltd8 Prospect PlaceWelwynHertfordshireAL6 9EN

Phone: 01438 840888Fax: 01438 840097Email: info@birchwoodinvestment.com

Contact us at:

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Birchwood Investment Management Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority as an Independent Financial Adviser.