UK – Actuarial consulting firm Lane Clark & Peacock has hired KPMG’s Nick Phizackerley and Antonella Sferrino as managing consultants to launch an outsourcing consultancy.

Phizackerley and Sferrino will work with the seven-strong employee benefit consultancy team to “help clients appraise and manage new suppliers where appropriate” said LCP, part of South Africa-based financial services group Alexander Forbes.

They will be based at Alexander Forbes’ London headquarters. At KPMG Sferrino and Phizackerley worked in in-house and outsourced administration of private sector pension schemes respectively.

Phizackerley, LCP said, has worked in both the public and private sector and his experience includes three years as IT director.

Richard Thomas, managing director of LCP’s employee benefit services, said: “The pensions simplification deadline of April 2006 and the demands laid out in the Pensions Bill will place extra pressure on clients to change their administrative process and systems.”

“We are confident that that we now have them through a period of significant legislative change,” he added.

Clients recognise the benefits of professional third party assistance’ when changing supplier or outsourcing for the first time, Sferrino said.

“Pension managers demand a thorough approach, but are often overwhelmed by the need of reading hundreds of pages of tender responses. These are challenges which LCP will be ideally placed to meet.”

Phizackerley, who has already worked in the past with LCP for a number of clients, said: “KPMG Administration Consulting is rightly regarded as a market leader for the quality of its advice. Toni Sferrino and I will continue to provide the same level of service to LCP’s clients.”