A Stakeholder Pension (SHP) is a type of Personal Pension Plan designed to provide an optional lump sum and income in retirement. In common with a Personal Pension Plan, Stakeholder Pensions are available to any United Kingdom resident under the age of 75. The minimum age for Stakeholder Pension is 55.
You, in conjunction with your adviser, choose the pension provider and make the arrangements for paying the contributions to the plan.
You can start a SHP even if you have a workplace pension or if you’re self-employed and don’t have a workplace pension. You don’t have to be working to take out a SHP and you can also provide a SHP for your spouse/partner or your child/children.
When you contribute to a SHP, your money is invested by the pension provider (usually an insurance company) to build up a fund/pension pot over a number of years.
A Stakeholder Pension incorporates a set of minimum standards established by the government, which include:
A personal pension plan helps you save money for retirement and is available to any United Kingdom resident who is between the ages of 16 and 75 (Children under 16 cannot start a plan in their own right but a Legal Guardian can start one on their behalf). You, in conjunction with your adviser, choose the pension provider and make the arrangements for paying the contributions to the plan.
You can start a personal pension even if you have a workplace pension or if you’re self-employed and don’t have a workplace pension. You don’t have to be working to take out a Personal Pension Plan and you can also provide a Personal Pension Plan for your spouse/partner or your child/children.
When you contribute to a Personal Pension plan, your money is invested by the pension provider (usually an insurance company) to build up a fund/pension pot over a number of years.
(Please note - Income Drawdown is a complex and constantly changing subject and the information provided here reflects the current situation. For more information call us today or complete our short enquiry form and we'll be pleased to help you further.)
Traditionally, when the time came to retire, most people with defined contribution (DC) pensions, either used their whole pension fund to buy an annuity or used the remainder to do so after taking their entitlement to tax-free cash (normally 25% of the fund). They did so because they either didn’t qualify for income drawdown or were not willing to accept (or were unable to afford) the associated investment risk.
Since income drawdown was introduced some years ago, anyone of retirement age with a DC pension has been able to take income directly from their pension fund without needing to buy an annuity. Now, with the introduction of new 'income drawdown' rules, anyone with a DC pension and age 55 (57 in April 2028) or over, can use income drawdown to provide the income they need in retirement. Pension savers who are currently in a capped drawdown can move out of that arrangement whenever they choose.
(From April 2015, the rules involving annuities and income drawdown changed. Rather than having to purchase an annuity, pension savers can, if they wish, withdraw as much as they wish from their pension pots. In total, 25% of the pension pot can be taken free of tax; the balance being subject to income tax. Although this change may make annuities less attractive for some, many still prefer the security of knowing they have a guaranteed and secure income for life.)
What is an annuity?
An annuity is a contract between an insurance company and a pension scheme member, where the member uses some or all of their pension savings to purchase a regular and guaranteed income for the rest of his or her life or for a predetermined number of years.
The factors that determine the amount of income you can expect to receive include (but are not limited to) your age, state of health, your postcode, prevailing annuity rates, the type of annuity you buy and the size of your pension fund.
Every payday, a percentage of the employee’s pay is deducted automatically from their salary or wages and invested in the scheme. The employer also contributes to the scheme on the employee’s behalf as does the government in the form of tax relief.
Two types of scheme
In a ‘defined contribution scheme’, the employee’s retirement income is based on the contributions made, whereas in a defined benefit scheme, the employee’s pension income is based on his or her salary and length of service with the employer. Most occupational pension schemes are defined contribution schemes.
What happens if the employer goes out of business?
Whether the scheme is managed by insurance companies or by the employer, the pension funds are not available to creditors of the employer, so employees’ pension pots should not be affected if the employer goes bust. If the scheme is a trust-based scheme, employees will still get their pensions, although not as much because the scheme’s running costs will be paid out of members’ pension pots rather than by the employer.
When you retire you still need food and shelter as an absolute minimum, but of course you will want to maintain the lifestyle to which you have become accustomed, so unless you can guarantee a large inheritance or windfall, then you need to provide yourself with a secure income for the rest of your life.
A well prepared pension plan which is regularly reviewed should go some way to providing you with a reasonable level of income in your retirement.
A pension plan requires action as soon as possible, so start now - and if you have already started, take the opportunity to have a closer look at your existing arrangements to make sure you are on track.
How much am I going to need for my retirement?
The answer to this, of course, depends on your aspirations - what will you want to do? What will be the costs of day-to-day living for you (and your partner) in retirement? What else will you want to do now you have time on your hands? What expenses will disappear, for example children or mortgage repayments?
NEST — a defined contribution workplace pension scheme — was set up by the UK government to facilitate auto enrolment. As a ‘qualifying’ scheme, NEST can be used by any and all UK employers to make pension contributions. Employers can auto enrol employees in NEST rather than setting up their own pension scheme.
Members can transfer other Defined Contribution pensions they may have into their Nest scheme, should they wish, and are also free to transfer out to another pension scheme, providing they have stopped making contributions into the NEST account.
Although Auto Enrolment is compulsory, membership of NEST isn’t. NEST is, by design, a very simple scheme offering few bells and whistles. Employers with more sophisticated requirements are free to consider establishing other types of workplace/occupational pension schemes.
With a home income plan, equity is released through a lifetime mortgage or a home reversion plan and is automatically invested into an annuity that is built into the plan, to generate an income for life. A cash lump sum may be available in addition to an income, but the amount may be restricted.
An annuity is a plan that guarantees a series of payments in exchange for a cash lump sum. The income you receive will depend on prevailing annuity rates, your age at the outset and your gender.
The advantages and disadvantages of home income plans largely depend on whether the money is released through a lifetime mortgage or a reversion plan, however, annuities have their own set of pros and cons:
Similar advantages and disadvantages as a regular lifetime mortgage, with additional issues that are unique to this kind of equity release scheme. The main difference is that you don't request the full sum of money available to you immediately. Instead, you decide on a maximum amount of equity you want to release, and 'drawdown' the cash in stages as and when required.
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