Pension Glossary

A Statement of Entitlement is the document that shows the transfer value of a preserved pension. If a deferred member of a final salary pension scheme wants to transfer their deferred pension into another arrangement, they must make a written request to the administrators of the pension scheme for a ‘Statement of Entitlement’. The administrator

Stakeholder pensions were introduced in 2001 and are a type of low-cost and flexible personal pension scheme. Stakeholder pension schemes must meet certain standards set by the Government to ensure that they provide good value to their members. Providers of Stakeholder pensions can only charge a 1.5% annual management charge (for the first 10 years

One of the options people need to consider when they buy an annuity is whether they want to buy a single or joint life policy. The pension income provided by a single life annuity is greater than that of a joint life annuity, as the policy needs to only be paid during the remaining life

This stands for the State Earnings Related Pension Scheme and it was the State additional pension between April 1978 and April 2002. It relied on just employee’s National Insurance Contributions. The self-employed did not contribute to SERPs The SERPSs scheme was replaced in 2002 with the current State Second Pension. The main aim of SERPs

This type of personal pension allows the holder to make their own investment decisions and it offers more investment options. SIPP holders can manage their investments themselves of they can employ somebody to do this for them. With a SIPP, the holder can invest in shares, gilts or even commercial property. A SIPP gets the

Also sometimes known as the selected retirement age (SRA), this is the year/date (or age) at which you intended to retire. The SRD can be any age between 55 and 75, and it doesn’t have to be the normal retirement date set by an employer’s scheme. It is important to be fairly certain of your

This is an insurance policy which can be used to transfer the benefits in a paid-up or deferred pension from a previous employer’s pension scheme into a money purchase scheme. A Section 32 buyout can also be used to give a spouse a share of a pension as part of their divorce settlement. The benefits

This is a type of defined benefit occupational pension schemes. A salary-related scheme will provide pension benefits which are based on the accrual rate, the time someone was a member (pensionable service) and their salary (see pensionable salary). The best known salary-related scheme is the final salary scheme. Salary-related schemes are very desirable as the

Usually, pension contributions can be net of income tax, but not National Insurance contributions (NIC). Salary sacrifice is a written agreement between an employee and their employer, whereby the worker forgoes some of their salary and the employer makes extra pension contributions on their behalf. As the extra contribution is equivalent to the NIC, the

Pension schemes are a fund set up by an organisation (be it an employer, insurance company or the Government) to prove people with income in retirement. Those participating in the arrangement join the pension scheme and so are referred to as member. A pension scheme member is someone that has qualified under the scheme rules