大象传媒

This page explains the how Old Benefits Active Members of the 大象传媒 Pension Scheme (the Scheme) can purchase additional benefits by paying extra contributions. It is intended only as guidance. The definitive provisions of the Scheme are set out in the Trust Deed and Rules, which supplement and override this handbook in the event of any difference. Some of the terms used (e.g. qualifying spouse) have a particular meaning and are in bold type wherever they appear in the text. There is an explanation of the terms used at the bottom of the page.

Introduction

If you want to boost your pension benefits you can do so by paying extra contributions. You get the benefit of tax relief on these extra contributions.

The 大象传媒 Pension Scheme (the Scheme) has two arrangements for Old Benefits members. They are:

• Added Years, and
• Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs)

Added Years

What are the benefits?

Every Added Year you buy increases your pension at age 60 by 1/60th of your final pensionable salary and qualifies in full for pension increases and dependants’ benefits.

How much does it cost?

The table below shows the current additional contribution needed to buy each Added Year. It is expressed as a percentage of your pensionable salary. Deductions continue for a complete number of years, ending in the 12 months before your 60th birthday.

The contribution rates are set by the Trustees, with the consent of the 大象传媒, and are subject to review.

Example of how Added Years can boost your pension:

Janet is currently 51 years old. When she retires on her 60th birthday, she will have 30 years’ pensionable service. She decides to buy 2 Added Years. Her current final pensionable salary is £30,000 p.a. Her annual pension on retirement, at present values, will be:

                          30/60 x £30,000 = £15,000 (scale pension)

                          2/60 x £30,000 = £1,000 (Added Years)

                          Total pension = £16,000 p.a.

* see ‘are there any limits’ below

Are there any limits?

You can buy up to a maximum of 10 Added Years, subject to the following:

• your total pensionable service plus Added Years plus credits at age 60 cannot exceed 40 years;
• your total pension, including benefits from other schemes, cannot exceed two-thirds of your final pensionable salary;
• your basic contributions plus your Added Years contributions and any AVCs cannot exceed 15% of your pensionable salary. *These rates are likely to restrict or prevent members starting to buy Added Years as they get closer to their 60th birthday

If you cannot complete 10 years’ actual service by the time you are 60 you may not be able to buy the full 10 years. You will be told whether this limit affects you when you submit your application.

How do I apply?

Decide how many Added Years you want to buy and work out how much it will cost using the contribution table above. Part years may only be purchased when you apply to buy the maximum allowable years and days.

To start buying Added Years, you should contact the pension service line (see help and Support). You will be sent a letter confirming the start date of your purchase. Check your payslip to see whether deductions have started and let us know if they have not.

Can I change my contributions?

Subject to notice and Scheme limits, you can increase, decrease or stop your purchase of Added Years. To do so, you should contact the pension service line, detailing your changes:

What happens if I leave the Scheme or claim my pension?

If you leave active membership of the Scheme before you are 60, you will be credited with the exact proportion of Added Years you have purchased. The benefit will be included in your deferred pension and will qualify for pension increases and dependants’ benefits.

If your pension is paid before you are 60, it will include your Added Years benefit reduced to reflect early payment.

What happens if I die in pensionable service?

Your Added Years will be treated as having been paid in full, and the benefit will be included in any pension payable to your dependant(s). Furthermore, your contributions plus interest will be refunded.

AVCs

AVCs enable you to improve your pension benefits, and take advantage of tax concessions that are not available to many other forms of saving. The money you save is invested in your name to provide a fund that can be used to purchase additional benefits. You should consider contributing to AVCs if:

• you have non-pensionable earnings e.g. overtime your pensionable salary is less than your actual salary;
• your Scheme pension at age 60 will be less than two-thirds of your final pensionable salary;
• you intend to take your pension early; or
• you would like to maximise tax-free cash and pension benefits at retirement.

If you are in receipt of qualifying earnings, the 大象传媒 will also contribute towards these extra benefits. It does so by matching your savings, currently on a £1 for £1 basis, up to 15% of your qualifying earnings. This money is invested separately in a fund in your name.

What are qualifying earnings?

The earnings that currently attract 大象传媒 matching contributions are:

The 大象传媒 does not contribute to any AVC arrangements outside the Scheme.

AVCs can be made through Smart pensions. This allows you to save money through reduced National Insurance contributions. More information on Smart pensions is available in the Documents section.

Your AVCs are flexible benefits in addition to your defined benefit Scheme pension. For more information about your Scheme pension contact the pension service line (see Help and Support).

What are the benefits of paying AVCs?

When you take your pension, AVCs are used in accordance with your wishes subject to Scheme limits, to top-up the benefits you get from the Scheme.

The options currently available include:

• maximising your tax-free cash lump sum entitlement;
• buying more pension, either with the Scheme or an insurance company;
• a combination of tax-free cash and pension.

Alternatively, you can choose to transfer some or all of your AVCs to another registered pension arrangement before your pension starts.

Where is my money invested?

The Scheme currently offers Fidelity Pensions Management for AVCs. The Trustees reserve the right to review and vary these arrangements and to change providers (including switching funds).

The default investment option is the Working Life Strategy fund which Fidelity will manage for you. Alternatively, you can take a more active part in managing the investment of your contributions by choosing from one or more of the remaining funds.

Contributions to Fidelity’s funds are used to buy ‘units’ which are effectively shares in the funds. The value of units can fall as well as rise in line with the value of the investments held in a particular fund.

If you are interested in finding out more about Fidelity’s investment options, you can contact them on 08457 234 235 or visit their website 

What can I pay?

You can pay AVCs on both your pensionable salary and non-pensionable earnings. However, in any tax year:

• taken together, your basic contributions and AVCs cannot exceed 15% of your pensionable salary;
• you cannot contribute more than 15% of your non-pensionable earnings;
• overall you cannot contribute more than 15% of the Scheme earnings cap.

Your total benefits on retirement cannot exceed Scheme limits. If this is likely, the Trustees will restrict your contributions.

How do I apply?

Having decided the rate at which you wish to contribute, based on your pensionable salary and/or your non-pensionable earnings, you should contact the pension service line (see Help and Support) to set up the payments.  You will be sent a letter confirming the start date of your contributions.  You should check your payslip to see whether deductions have started and let us know if they have not.

Can I change my AVCs?

Subject to notice, you can change or stop your contributions by contacting the pension service line (see Help and Support).

Can I transfer my AVCs away from the Scheme?

You can transfer all or some of your AVCs to one or more registered pension arrangements in the UK or overseas. You would need to specify the percentage of your AVCs that you want to transfer and not a monetary amount. Only one partial transfer is permitted in any three month period but you can transfer all your remaining AVCs at any time before your pension starts.

As an active member, you can continue to pay AVCs following a transfer.

Different pension providers offer different options in relation to what you can do with flexible benefits, including the option to select an annuity. Different options have different features, different rates of payment, different charges and different tax implications.

There may be tax implications associated with accessing flexible benefits. Pension income is taxable and the rate at which income from a pension is taxable depends on the amount of income you receive from your pension and other sources.

is a service from the Government that offers free and impartial guidance to help you to understand the options you have and to help you think about how to make the best use of your pension savings in relation to flexible benefits such as your AVC funds. You should obtain guidance from Pension Wise and consider taking independent advice to help you with this decision. Pension Wise offers you tailored guidance either online, over the telephone or face to face.

What if I opt out or leave the Scheme?

If you opt out or leave service, your AVCs stop automatically. If you elect to take a deferred pension and do not transfer your AVCs to another registered pension arrangement, your AVCs will continue to be invested until your Scheme pension becomes payable. At that time, they may be used to provide tax-free cash, additional pension in the Scheme or an annuity with an insurance company.

If you wish, you can transfer your pension benefits to another registered pension arrangement. You can transfer:

• all your benefits (main Scheme pension and AVCs);
• just your AVCs; or
• a percentage of your AVCs.

What happens if I die before I take my pension?

Should you die before your pension comes into payment, your accumulated AVCs will be paid to your beneficiaries in the same way as any other lump-sum benefit due from the Scheme.

What are my options when I take my pension?

Tax-free cash

When you claim payment of your pension, you may be able to take part of your pension benefits as a one-off tax-free cash lump sum. You can use your AVCs to provide your tax-free cash lump sum entitlement and avoid you having to exchange as much of your main Scheme pension for a cash lump sum.

The maximum cash you can take is normally 25% of the value of your pension benefits, including any AVCs.

Buying more pension

When the time comes for you to take your Scheme pension, you will be able to use your AVCs to buy more pension for you and your dependants. This is done by either buying additional Scheme pension or an annuity with an insurance company.

Any additional Scheme pension you buy is treated in the same way as your normal Scheme pension. For example, it includes a pension for your Qualifying Spouse, Qualifying Civil Partner or Nominated Dependant in the event of your death, it is guaranteed for five years and attracts the same increases as other elements of your pension in payment.

Transfer your AVCs

You can transfer your AVCs to another pension arrangement before your pension starts. See above for details.

Are there any limits?

The Scheme has limits on the amount of benefit it can pay. If the level of your AVCs look likely to result in your Scheme benefits exceeding those limits, the AVCs you can make will be restricted. In addition, the annual allowance and lump sum allowances set by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) limit the total amount of pension savings you can make in each tax year and still benefit from tax relief and the amount of tax-free cash that can be taken from a pension scheme.

The allowances do not affect many people. The following is based on the Trustees’ understanding of the .

Explanation of terms

These terms are in bold type wherever they appear in this handbook.

Active member

Is a member who has not yet left service or opted out, or become a pensioner in respect of the whole of their benefits under the Scheme.

Basic salary

Your basic salary is the amount determined by the 大象传媒 as being your basic salary payable under the terms of your employment contract before Smart Pensions.

Final pensionable salary

Your pensionable salary earned in the last year, calculated on a daily rate before your pensionable service ends.

Full pension

The annual amount of pension immediately before death, as it would have been but for any commutation or levelling adjustment.

Guaranteed Minimum Pension (GMP)

The minimum pension that the Scheme must provide for pensionable service after 5 April 1978 and before 6 April 1997. It is broadly equivalent to the SERPS pension you would have earned had you not been a member of the Scheme. On your death a GMP may be payable to your widow(er) or civil partner, and will usually be included within a dependant’s pension.

Incapacity

Incapacity means physical or mental impairment as a result of which, on the evidence of a doctor or other qualified person appointed by the 大象传媒, the Trustee is satisfied:

• that you are incapable of carrying out your normal occupation; and
• it is likely to permanently and substantially impair your earning capacity.

Life assurance member

An employee who is not an active member, but is covered for a lump sum on death in service.

Life cover pensionable salary

Your basic pay including any other earnings as may be recognised by the 大象传媒 for this purpose before Smart Pensions.

Nominated dependant

A person nominated by you in writing as prescribed by the Trustee and accepted by it as satisfying the requirements set out in the Nomination of a Dependant form, which is available from our website, bbc.co.uk/mypension. The Trustee can reduce the pension, if your nominated dependant is younger than you by more than 10 years. The Trustee will decide the amount of any reduction after having consulted the Scheme’s actuary.

Normal pension age

Age 60.

Pensionable salary

In any Scheme year, your basic salary including any other earnings as may be recognised by the 大象传媒 as pensionable before Smart Pensions where applicable. From 1 April 2011 the 大象传媒 has limited increases in pensionable salary, subject to the Scheme earnings cap where applicable, to a maximum of 1% each year.

Pensionable service

The number of years and days of Old Benefits membership as an active member.

Qualifying children

Your natural (including any not yet born) and adopted children, and any that the Trustee accepts were financially dependent on you at the date of your death. Benefits are payable to your qualifying children up to age 18 or, at the Trustee’s discretion, up to age 23 while in full-time education.

Qualifying civil partner

The person with whom you have entered into a civil partnership and with whom you are living at the date of your death. If the civil partnership is registered after leaving service, your partner will be treated as a qualifying civil partner only if the civil partnership was registered at least six months before your death. The Trustee can reduce the pension, if your civil partner is younger than you by more than 10 years and your civil partnership took place after you left service. The Trustee will decide the amount of any reduction after having consulted the Scheme’s actuary.

Qualifying spouse

The person to whom you are married and with whom you are living at the date of your death. If you marry after leaving the service, your spouse will be treated as a qualifying spouse only if the marriage took place at least six months before your death. The Trustee can reduce the pension, if your spouse is younger than you by more than 10 years and you were married after leaving service. The Trustee will decide the amount of any reduction after having consulted the Scheme’s actuary.

Scale pension

1/60th of final pensionable salary for each year of pensionable service.

Scheme earnings cap

The pensionable salary limit on which contributions and pension benefits are based. For the 2023/24 tax year it is £205,200. The Scheme earnings cap does not apply to members who joined the Scheme before 1 June 1989.

SERPS

The State Earnings Related Pension Scheme, which was replaced by the State second pension (S2P) in April 2002.

Service

Service as an employee of the 大象传媒 or a participating employer.

State pension age

The age set by the Government from which your State pension is payable. You can find out more about your State pension age by visiting