A PROFILE OF THE TAYLOR WIMPEY PERSONAL CHOICE PLAN IN PARTNERSHIP WITH SCOTTISH WIDOWS The Taylor Wimpey Personal Choice Plan Your Taylor Wimpey company pension is provided by Scottish Widows.
INTRODUCTION DECIDING WHETHER OR NOT TO JOIN COULD BE ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT FINANCIAL DECISIONS YOU WILL EVER MAKE. BY JOINING THE TAYLOR WIMPEY PERSONAL CHOICE PLAN NOW, WE CAN HELP YOU PROVIDE FOR YOUR LONG TERM SECURITY AND PROVIDE MORE FINANCIAL FREEDOM WHEN YOU RETIRE. This means you can take some control of your financial future, helping you to save money towards providing an income in retirement. This may help improve your lifestyle and may allow you to do the things you plan to do in retirement. WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS? Here are some reasons why you should consider contributing into your company pension: When you start paying in, Taylor Wimpey will start paying in too. Using the salary exchange Arrangement to pay your pension contributions means you pay reduced National Insurance contributions. You can choose an investment approach to suit your personal circumstances or simply invest in the default option, the Balanced Pension Investment Approach (Targetting Annuity), or you can make a choice from our wider range of investment choices. There are a number of options available for you to take your benefits (currently from age 55). When you decide, 25% can be withdrawn tax-free, the rest will be subject to income tax. Tax benefits depends on your individual circumstances and tax rules, both of which can change in the future. You can access and administer your pension online. A fully portable pension if you move to another company you can take your pension plan with you. A Total Annual Fund Charge (TAFC) of 0.4%. This is currently a discount of 0.35% from Scottish Widows standard charge. Life Assurance cover of four times your basic annual or notional salary provided by Taylor Wimpey. Please refer to Taylor Wimpey s Pensions Department for details of this benefit. Pensions are a long-term investment. The retirement benefits you receive from your pension plan will depend on a number of factors including the value of your plan when you decide to take your benefits which isn t guaranteed, and can go down as well as up. The value of your plan could fall below the amount(s) paid in. 1
CONTRIBUTION RATES TAYLOR WIMPEY UK EMPLOYEES All new Personal Choice Plan (PCP) members can choose to make a contribution of 3%, 4% or 5% of Salary and your employer will contribute twice as much. If you were a member of the Taylor Woodrow or George Wimpey final salary schemes when they closed to future accrual and remained in continuous service since, then you have the choice of paying 6% with the employer paying twice this. Employee Contribution (%) Employer Contribution (%) 3 6 4 8 5 or more 10 (max) 6* or more 12* (max) * For members of Taylor Woodrow or George Wimpey final salary schemes only. Contributions can either be made as employee contributions or via the salary exchange Arrangement. The above contribution rates apply to both methods of payment. You can contribute more than this however your employer will not pay any more than 10% or 12%*. Contributing to the PCP also means you qualify for Life Assurance of four times basic or notional salary provided by Taylor Wimpey your employer provides this free of charge to you and there is no benefit in kind tax liability arising. Please speak to Taylor Wimpey s Pensions Department for more information. Rules surrounding contributions to the Personal Choice Plan are: Contributions must be expressed as a whole percentage only. Salary is defined differently according to how you are paid and could be either: basic pay; notional salary, which is 150% of basic pay or P60 earnings. The definition used will depend on your type of employment. Please speak to your employer for more information. Full terms and conditions of the Taylor Wimpey contribution rules are available on request. WHAT IS A SALARY EXCHANGE ARRANGEMENT? The Salary Exchange Arrangement is an agreement between you and your employer. With salary exchange, you agree to exchange part of your gross (before tax) salary in return for a non-cash benefit, in this case, a pension contribution. You don t make contributions directly to your pension plan. Instead, your gross salary is reduced by the amount you want to exchange and this money is then paid into your pension plan as an employer contribution. By exchanging rather than paying directly, you don t pay National Insurance contributions on the amount contributed towards your pension. Normally contributions would be made by salary exchange. You can however elect to opt out of this arrangement by ticking the relevant box on the joining form. HOW DOES IT WORK? You choose a percentage of your salary to exchange, using the joining form provided by your employer, and your gross salary is then reduced by this amount. For example, if you earn 25,000 each year and you choose to exchange 2,500, your salary would become 22,500. The exchanged amount is then paid direct to your pension plan as an employer contribution. If you decide to contribute via salary exchange, this involves an amendment to your terms and conditions of employment. By making pension contributions through salary exchange rather than directly you would effectively reduce the amount of National Insurance contributions that you pay. This can result in two scenarios: Keeping your take-home pay the same and increasing the amount paid into your pension plan. Or the way we operate your Personal Choice Plan, keep your pension contributions the same and increasing your take-home pay. 2
THINGS TO CONSIDER Salary exchange is a change to your contract of employment. It is a legally binding agreement and you should ensure that it s the right thing for you to do before agreeing to it. A reduction in salary can reduce the amount an employee can borrow, for example, when applying for a mortgage. However, Taylor Wimpey supply mortgage advisers with your full salary not your reduced salary. Some of the things that you should think about which may be impacted if you choose to exchange some of your salary in this way are as follows: State benefits which are impacted by the National Insurance contributions that you pay. You can t allow your take-home earnings to fall below the National Minimum wage as a result of salary exchange. Salary exchange is not suitable for everyone; if you would like more information on whether salary exchange might be suitable for you, please speak to your financial adviser. HOW DO I JOIN? Your pre-populated joining form will be posted to you approximately one month after commencing employment with Taylor Wimpey. If you require any help in completing the joining form, or have a query regarding the form, please call the Scottish Widows Plan Helpline on 0345 716 6748. Scottish Widows may record and monitor calls to help us to improve our service. You can still join the scheme even if you did not reply to the letter you received when you started. You can complete the joining form found at www.scottishwidows.co.uk/ taylorwimpey and return this to Scottish Widows at the address in this booklet. WHAT HAPPENS IF I DON T JOIN? Taylor Wimpey are required to auto enrol all eligible staff into some form of qualifying pension arrangement. If you decide not to join this scheme you will be auto enrolled into the People s Pension run by the B&CE. Full details will be given to you by the People s Pension when you are auto enrolled. PENSION INVESTMENT APPROACHES MAKING INVESTMENT CHOICE EASIER You have the choice and flexibility to choose how to invest your money. To make things easier for you, Scottish Widows have developed our specially designed Pension Investment Approaches. They aim to grow your pension fund as much as possible whilst matching the level of investment risk you ve chosen and they gradually switch depending on how you currently intend to take your benefits. You can find out more in the Pension Investor s Guide. You can use the interactive Investment Decision Tool to find out what kind of investor you are. Based on your answers to 10 simple multiple choice questions, it will tell you which of the Pension Investment Approaches may suit you best. As investment choice is a critical decision in respect of planning for your retirement, you should give careful consideration prior to making any decision and seek financial advice if you are unsure. If you don t want to use one of the Pension Investment Approaches, you can choose from a wide range of Scottish Widows investment funds. If you choose not to make an investment decision, your contributions will be automatically invested using the default option, the Balanced Pension Investment Approach (Targeting Annuity). Full details of all the investment choices available to you can be found in the Pension Investor s Guide. FUND INFORMATION It is important you keep track of the pension funds you are investing in. Over time, your attitude to investment risk may change and you may want to change the funds you are invested in. Scottish Widows may change the selection of funds we make available and we may restrict the amount you can invest in certain funds. Please contact us for details of any restrictions that apply. The value of an investment is not guaranteed and can go down as well as up depending on investment performance (and currency exchange rates where a fund invests overseas) and could fall below the amount(s) paid in. You can switch funds yourself by accessing your pension online. Or by calling the Scottish Widow Taylor Wimpey helpline on 0345 716 6748. Overseas members can call the helpline on +44 131 655 6000. We may record and monitor calls to help us to improve our service. All switch and redirection changes made before 12pm are usually effective the next working day everything else will be effective 2 working days later. TRANSFERRING EXISTING BENEFITS Should you wish to consider transferring any existing pension benefits you have, Scottish Widows provide an advice service for certain transfer scenarios. More information can be found at www.scottishwidows.co.uk/transfer alternatively, you can seek advice from a financial adviser. 3
WHAT IF I LEAVE THE COMPANY? Even if you think you may only be in your current job for a short period of time, then you can still benefit from joining the scheme. If you leave, any Taylor Wimpey contributions will stop however you still have a number of options available to you including the following. You can either: continue paying in to your Scottish Widows pension plan irrespective of your new employment status (self-employed, employed, etc), continue your Scottish Widows pension plan with your new employer making payments to it (this is subject to their agreement), do not continue payments to your Scottish Widows pension plan, but leave your pension fund invested with Scottish Widows. You can still make payments at any time in the future. You will still benefit from a reduced Total Annual Fund Charge of 0.4%, transfer the value of your Scottish Widows pension plan to another pension provider. You should note that where you qualify for a protected retirement age or where you have protected tax free cash this may be lost on transfer. If you have applied to HM Revenue & Customs for Enhanced Protection this may be lost if the transfer is not a permitted transfer. You should seek financial advice before making any transfer decision, start taking your benefits from your pension fund if you re aged 55 or over. Please note that if you leave the pension scheme or your employer, you will no longer be entitled to the Life Assurance cover of four times your annual salary, provided by Taylor Wimpey. WHAT IF I DIE BEFORE TAKING RETIREMENT BENEFITS? If you die when still employed by Taylor Wimpey and are still paying regular contributions to your Plan, the Life Assurance will normally pay out four times your annual salary as a lump sum. The value of your pension fund will also be paid to any nominated beneficiaries. If you have left Taylor Wimpey employment and are already receiving a pension from your Taylor Wimpey pension, depending on the annuity you choose at retirement, a reduced pension may be paid to your beneficiaries upon your death. If you have left Taylor Wimpey employment but have not yet retired, your pension fund can be paid as a lump sum to your beneficiaries. The lump sum payment is subject to Lifetime Allowance limits. Please refer to the HMRC website for more details of the Lifetime Allowance limits. WHEN I RETIRE? You can normally start taking your pension at any age from 55, in many circumstances even if you re still working. But remember, the earlier you take your pension the less time your pension fund has the opportunity to grow. Scottish Widows will contact you as you approach your selected retirement age with details of the options available to you. You may want to discuss your options with a financial adviser. ADVICE AND GUIDANCE FROM SCOTTISH WIDOWS Advice and guidance regarding the PCP is paid for within the 0.4%pa TAFC. Advice from Scottish Widows on other financial planning matters will be charged for separately. Please speak to Scottish Widows for further details. ACCESS YOUR PENSION PLAN ONLINE Once you re a member of the PCP you will normally receive your log-in details in the post 5-10 working days after joining the plan. You must use these within the first six months of issue. For security purposes, if you don t then you will have to reregister. Online Services provide you with a quick and simple way to keep track of your pension plan. You will have access to a range of online services which allow you to: View your Plan documents. View the retirement date for your plan. View your current and historic plan values. View your payment details. Change your address / contact details. Request copies of previous Annual Benefit Statements. Switch the funds you are invested in and redirect your future payments. If you have any other questions about your plan, please contact Scottish Widows on the contact details overleaf. PENSION QUALITY MARK PLUS The Taylor Wimpey Personal Choice Plan has been awarded a Pension Quality Mark Plus in recognition of being a high quality defined contribution scheme. For further information please visit www.pensionqualitymark.org.uk 4
WHO CAN I CONTACT FOR MORE INFORMATION? If you have any specific queries about the Plan, please contact Scottish Widows SCOTTISH WIDOWS PO Box 28069, 15 Dalkeith Road Edinburgh EH16 5XD Tel: 0345 716 6748 or +44 131 655 6000 for overseas members TAYLOR WIMPEY PENSIONS DEPARTMENT The pensions department can be contacted at: Pensions Department Unit 2 Tournament Court, Edgehill Drive Warwick CV34 6LG Tel: 01926 516985 Email: pensions@taylorwimpey.com We may record and monitor calls to help us to improve our service. Email: twpensions@scottishwidows.co.uk OR FOR MORE SPECIFIC TOPICS: STATE PENSION To get an estimate of how much state retirement pension you can expect. Tel: 0800 731 7898 Website: www.gov.uk/state-pension PENSIONS RELATED TAX Your local tax office (look in the phone book under HM Revenue & Customs ) Website: www.hmrc.gov.uk FINANCIAL CONDUCT AUTHORITY The independent body that regulates the financial services industry in the UK. Website: www.fca.org.uk THE PENSIONS REGULATOR Work with pension scheme trustees and scheme managers, and employers, to help protect your pension. Website: www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk PENSIONS OMBUDSMAN Investigate complaints about how pension schemes are run. Website: www.pensions-ombudsman.org.uk STATE PENSION CALCULATOR To calculate your State Pension Age. Website: www.gov.uk/calculate-state-pension THE PENSIONS SERVICE Part of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). It provides its customers with pensions, benefits and retirement information. Website: www.gov.uk/contact-pension-service HMRC For more information on salary exchange Website: www.hmrc.gov.uk/specialist/salary_sacrifice.pdf 5
Scottish Widows Limited. Registered in England and Wales No. 3196171. Registered office in the United Kingdom at 25 Gresham Street, London EC2V 7HN. Authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority. Financial Services Register number 181655. 52301 10/17