Company Pensions
As well as any state pension benefit, most people have their own pension provision. The majority of individuals will be in a company or occupational scheme run by their employer. This could be a final salary scheme, where the eventual benefit is based on your salary at the end of your career. But the amount payable to you will be based on length of service. Your employer may offer a scheme based not on final salary but on contributions put in, a 'Defined Contribution' scheme. Here contributions paid in while you are working build up through investment to a "pot" on retirement. With respect to both types of schemes, your employer will have made contributions on your behalf and may have required some contribution from yourself. It is possible to top up company pension benefits through Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs) or possibly Free Standing AVCs, this being independent of the company scheme. An employee can contribute up to 15% of total earnings, which can include benefits in kind. Importantly, with the introduction of Stakeholder Pensions, some employees can contribute to an individual Stakeholder plan as well as their company scheme on a 'concurrent basis' provided they meet certain basic qualifying conditions. Therefore a number of choices are available to maximise pension benefit.| Pensions |
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