Life Assurance Online

Group Personal Pension Plans

Company Pension Schemes

A Group or Company Personal Pension Plan is essentially a collection of individual personal plans grouped together by the pension provider.

The administration costs of the pension plans are deducted from the employees fund but these should be lower than if each employee had their own individual pension plan. These administration costs can vary between providers so this aspect should be looked at carefully when comparing pension companies. For larger schemes with more than 250 employees the annual management charge can be as low as ½%.

Employers who offer all employees access to a group personal pension scheme are exempt from the requirement to designate a stakeholder pension scheme as long as the employer makes at least a 3% contribution to the pension fund.

Choosing the best pension scheme for your company can be confusing and complicated. If you own your own company there are probably more pressing every day issues to contend with.

Our professional pension advisers can help you make the best decision. They will provide comparative illustrations, tell you about the costs and tax implications and help you find the best scheme for your business and your employees. We can even come and make a face to face presentation for your staff.

Why have a Group Personal Pension Plan?

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It may help recruit and retain staff.

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Employees contributions attract income tax relief.

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Employers contributions qualify for corporation tax relief (if the company is a corporation, if not they may get income tax relief).

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The scheme may qualify for income tax and capital gains tax relief.

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Additional benefits such as death in service can be added for a nominal charge.

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Salary sacrifice is available. (What is salary sacrifice?)


Why have a Group Personal Pension Plan rather than a Stakeholder Plan?

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You will get a full advisory service from a specialist company pension adviser and quite often additional benefits such as death in service.

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A broader range of funds to choose from.

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For larger schemes of 250+ employees the annual management charge can be reduced to as little ½%.

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If the employer is making a 3% contribution and the employee a 4% contribution then the scheme will meet the requirements for Personal Account exemption.

Disadvantages of a Group Personal Pension Plan

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Some of the old schemes can have particularly high management charges.

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There can be exit penalties.

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There can be additional charges such as a monthly policy fee.

 

Call us now on 0800 458 3525 or fill in our short Enquiry Form and we will call you back at a time to suit you.