WORKSAVE PENSION MASTERTRUST

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1 WORKSAVE PENSION MASTERTRUST 1 company guide. This guide aims to give you an understanding of how Legal & General s WorkSave Pension Mastertrust can help you provide a cost efficient, flexible and valued workplace pension scheme for your workforce.

2 2 WORKSAVE PENSION MASTERTRUST COMPANY GUIDE ABOUT US The Legal & General Group, established in 1836, is one of the UK s leading financial services companies. As at 31 December 2011, we were responsible for investing 378 billion worldwide on behalf of investors, policyholders and shareholders. We also had over seven million customers in the UK for our life assurance, pensions, investments and general insurance plans. We are one of the biggest providers of index-tracking investments in the UK, managing 224 billion as at 31 December 2011.

3 WORKSAVE PENSION MASTERTRUST COMPANY GUIDE 3 ABOUT OUR WORKSAVE PENSION MASTERTRUST A Mastertrust is an Occupational Pension Scheme, written under trust. But rather than being a trust for a single company s pension scheme, it s a multi-employer scheme that any company can join. Once they have joined, their membership is kept as a distinct and discrete scheme within a scheme all participating companies are ring-fenced from one another. Our WorkSave Pension Mastertrust is a defined contribution scheme and part of Legal & General s award winning WorkSave Pension solutions. The Trustees are Legal & General Trustees Limited and Pitmans Trustees Limited. It offers companies all of the flexibility and benefits of trust based schemes without any of the cost, legal and regulatory responsibility and outright hassle of establishing and running their own Trustee body. We ve developed our Mastertrust to give maximum flexibility. You can choose to delegate every aspect of responsibility to the Trustees in what we call a sole governance section. Or, you can choose to share the governance and scheme design as one of our shared governance schemes, where you can help shape how your scheme operates in terms of investments and communications. We even offer two versions a traditional net pay version and a tax relief at source version more commonly associated with personal and stakeholder pensions so you can choose the best way for your workforce to gain tax relief on their contributions. Both versions can be combined with a Salary Sacrifice arrangement to give you maximum flexibility. Please note: Net pay tax relief is where member contributions are deducted from payroll before tax is deducted so tax relief is given immediately at a member s marginal rate. Tax Relief at Source means that members contributions are paid from their net pay and we will automatically add basic rate tax relief. A Relief at Source scheme can be a big financial advantage to workforce demographics that pay little or no income tax.

4 4 WORKSAVE PENSION MASTERTRUST COMPANY GUIDE IS THE MASTERTRUST A QUALIFYING SCHEME FOR AUTO-ENROLMENT PURPOSES? Yes, provided you nominate the Mastertrust as your Auto-enrolment scheme and pay the requisite level of contributions to eligible employees, it can be used as your qualifying scheme. Many companies have already designated our Mastertrust as their Auto-enrolment solution. WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES OF A MASTERTRUST OVER A SINGLE TRUST? Client companies adhere to an existing trust. They therefore have no need to create and register their own scheme, appoint scheme administrators and Practitioners or liaise with HMRC and The Pensions Regulator (TPR). Importantly, there s also no need to appoint Trustees or Member Nominated Trustees. In this way they can avoid the associated cost, risk and drain of management time that running an own trust scheme can involve. How is it paid for? Like Group Personal Pensions and Group Stakeholder Pensions, our Mastertrust operates on a bundled basis where the administration and investment charges are paid for by the members. There are no other fees payable to us (although companies can choose to pay fees if they wish to reduce or remove the administration charge). Our Mastertrust is the latest addition to our WorkSave Pension family of products. SCHEME Governance Governance FRAMEWORK policy of insurance with LEGAL & GENERAL ASSURANCE SOCIETY LIMITED Trustee company YOur COMPANY GOVERNANCE COMMITTEE Discretionary Payment and dispute resolution sub committee investment sub committee communications sub committee KEY: Legal & General LEGAL & GENERAL PENSIONS technical support LEGAL & GENERAL GROUP LEGAL SUPPORT Scheme governance under our Mastertrust is a collaboration between: The Trustees Investment Sub Committee Communications Sub Committee Discretionary Payment and Dispute Resolution Sub Committee For Shared Governance schemes, the Company s Governance Committee.

5 WORKSAVE PENSION MASTERTRUST COMPANY GUIDE 5 We are happy to accept all responsibility under a Sole Governance scheme without input from the Company. Equally we are happy for Shared Governance schemes to help us govern the scheme in the best way for their workforce. To help Shared Governance schemes operate effectively, we will provide regular reports including: Funds Holdings by member and by age profile (or other measurement) Fund performance Membership Age profiles Selected Retirement ages Joiners, leavers and opt-outs Contributions Online usage Performance against our service level agreement.

6 6 WORKSAVE PENSION MASTERTRUST COMPANY GUIDE Balance of powers The Trust Deed and Rules (the Scheme s formal governing documentation) requires us to have an Independent Trustee, appointed from The Pension Regulator s list of approved Independent Trustees. The Trustees hold the legal title of the scheme assets and therefore have strict legal duties to ensure that those assets are used to provide benefits in accordance with the terms of the trust (except where overridden by statute). These responsibilities include: Holding the trust assets Prudently investing the assets in accordance with the terms of the trust Collecting the contributions as required by the terms of the trust Paying the benefits in accordance with the terms of the trust Agreeing which investments to be made available Monitoring scheme administration Ensuring member communications are clear and accurate. However, each participating company can choose to create rules within rules specific to their scheme. For example: Investments Tailored fund range from the 150+ funds available A default investment option or options for your membership demographic. Communications Companies can influence the design, style and content of their communications including Membership booklet and benefit statements. Please note: Communications are subject to the relevant laws e.g. Occupational Pension Schemes (Disclosure of Information) Regulations Legal & General Trustees Limited will always liaise with your company before sending any communications to your members. The only exception is for any urgent communication (and/or calls to action) required where a delay in issuing may not be in your members best interests. General Eligibility Contribution levels Salary Sacrifice arrangements Qualifying service definition Normal retirement age Member access to online tools At retirement options (including a choice of annuity broker/income drawdown adviser).

7 WORKSAVE PENSION MASTERTRUST COMPANY GUIDE 7 WHAT SERVICES ARE INCLUDED? We offer a variety of support services to help make your transition to our Mastertrust as easy as possible for you and your workforce. Our services include: Trustee support services A comprehensive range of services to help Trustees close an existing scheme and transfering those assets to the Mastertrust. Implementation Our PRINCE2 qualified Project Managers to fully embed your new scheme. Relationship management Experienced professional people, dedicated to the successful running of your scheme. A dedicated member helpline A member helpline is available to all staff before, during and after they join the scheme offering generic support and guidance. A dedicated telephone number for each segment of your scheme can be created, which allows you to bespoke the way in which calls are answered. We can also gather and report on scheme specific call data if you wish. Presentations We can arrange as many presentations as you require to communicate the new scheme to your eligible employees. We can cover any location in the UK using our team of experienced presenters. HOW CAN I FIND OUT MORE? If you require further information about our WorkSave Pension Mastertrust, please speak to your adviser or contact Head of Corporate Sales, LGAS, Neil Kempshall neil.kempshall@landg.com Alternatively, you can visit our website at

8 Legal & General Assurance Society Limited Registered in England No Registered office: One Coleman Street, London EC2R 5AA We are authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. We are members of the Association of British Insurers. Q /12 Non-ASD