The Mulalley Ltd Group Personal Pension
Your employer has chosen to offer a personal pension arrangement as a valuable employee benefit to its staff.
It’s essential that you save money for your retirement. This pension is intended to help and encourage you to do just that.
This page provide detailed information about your plan, including the options you have if you leave your employer.
We’ve also included all the contact information you might need.
If you have a question and can’t find the answer below please get in touch.
Key contact details
Your scheme provider
Aviva Life & Pensions Ltd
Tel:
Email:
About your Group Personal Pension
A group personal pension scheme is a type of defined contribution pension. In a defined contribution plan the contributions are known but the final fund value or income is not guaranteed.
Your employer has decided to offer a staff pension scheme to encourage and help you save for your retirement. This pension forms part of your overall benefit package.
This is a valuable benefit, and you should consider your employer’s contributions as a tax-free addition to your salary which is only for your retirement.
A personal pension is an investment product in your name which belongs to you, and is entirely for your benefit.
If you leave the employment of Mulalley, this pension remains yours, and you will have several options available to you which are discussed elsewhere on this page.
Joining the scheme
You must be invited to join the Mulalley Group Personal Pension.
Your employer will let you know that you have been invited to join the scheme. At this time we will be contacted to provide the illustration of benefits. We request this from Aviva.
When the illustration is received we send a copy to your employer, and you will be asked to contact us to arrange your new member meeting with the scheme adviser, Peter French.
This meeting will take place at our office (The Old Court House in South Woodford) and will last around 30-50 minutes. This is your opportunity to ask questions, discuss investments and their risks, and learn more about the scheme charges. We will also ask you for more information to make sure the scheme is suitable for you. This forms part of our normal fact-finding process we undertake with all new clients.
After this meeting, we will send you a suitability letter which confirms all our advice in writing.
If you sign your pension application we will liaise with your employer to get the rest of the information we need, and then we will send your application to Aviva.
Finally, when the plan begins, we will send your new policy documents for you to retain in a safe place.
Contributions
This scheme is a contributory scheme.
This means your employer will only contribute to your pension if you join the scheme and make your own contributions.
The standard contribution rates are:
4% of your gross salary from your employer.
3% of your gross salary from you.
You may make additional personal contributions if you wish but your employer’s contributions will not change.
Investment options
Your pension is a long-term investment product.
Aviva, the firm which manages your pension scheme, provides a range of investments for you to choose from, and you can mix and match these as you wish.
The investment funds provided by Aviva include a range of asset types, exposure to different countries, and they vary in how much risk they take.
How much risk you are comfortable with is for you to decide. We will discuss the options with you in your new member meeting.
The scheme provides a balanced default fund if you don’t want to make a decision.
The funds available to your pension scheme are below.
INSERT FUND OPTIONS HERE
How it works
Each month, your employer will deduct your contributions from your salary when you get paid. If you are making additional contributions (AVCs) these will also be deducted.
Your employer will send this money, together with their contributions to your scheme provider, Aviva.
Basic rate tax relief will be applied automatically. If you are a higher rate tax payer you will need to claim this back yourself.
Aviva will then invest your total contribution into your chosen funds.
Each year, you will receive a statement from Aviva showing the current value of your plan (we can also provide these for you at any time).
Once you reach age 55 you are able to take money from your plan, but you should only do this when you are ready. The longer you can leave your money invested the more you will benefit from the compound returns.
If you leave your employer you can take your pension with you (see the section entitled ‘Scheme leavers’).
That’s the basics, but if you have any questions see the section ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ below. If you can’t find what you’re looking for there just give us a call.
Taking your benefits
Your pension plan will have a default retirement date, but this is only for adminstration purposes. Under current rules, you can take your pension benefits at any time after age 55.
Important: It may not be a good idea to take your pension benefits so soon. You are likely to still have many years of work left, and the longer you can leave your pension alone, the more time you have to benefit from compounding investment returns. If you have a sizable fund at age 55, another ten years of investment growth could make an enormous difference.
When you do decide to take your benefits you are entitled to take a tax-free lump sum of up to 25% of your plan value.
You can use the remaining 75% of your plan to fund an income, or leave invested a while longer.
You can also choose to access only part of your plan in this way.
finally, you have the option of purchasing an annuity with some or all of your money.
Retirement benefits today are extremely flexible, so make sure you carefully consider all the options, and how they will affect your retirement.
Scheme leavers
It’s unlikely you will stay with one employer forever, so you’ll be pleased to learn that you Mulalley Personal Pension plan is completely portable.
The pension policy is set up in your name, so you have complete freedom (subject to the normal pension rules, of course) as to what you want to do with it.
If you ever leave Mulalley, your pension options are as follows:
1. Do nothing
Your pension will remain invested in your chosen funds until you are ready to access it. Charges will still be deducted.
2. Continue your own contributions
The plan will be converted to an individual personal pension and you can set your own contribution level (subject to Aviva’s minimum). Your new employer may be willing to contribute to the plan, but that’s something you will have to discuss with them.
3. Transfer your plan elsewhere
If you have another pension, perhaps with a new employer, you are able to transfer your Mulalley pension funds elsewhere. Your new employer will be able to advise you on this but we will be able to help get the ball rolling.
Frequently Asked Questions
It’s not compulsory to join the scheme. However your employer is not obliged to make any contributions unless you do. Think carefully before giving up this valuable benefit. If you don’t join the scheme the contributions you could have had are gone forever.
The employer contributions will only be paid into your pension if you join the scheme. Your employer will not pay you more if you don’t join.
Yes, of course. Extra payments are called Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVC) and we can help you set this up.
You can’t access your funds before the age of 55. This is the normal rule for personal pensions.
Your pension belongs to you. If you leave your employer they will stop making contributions and you will have several options. You can leave the pension alone until you are ready to take the benefits. You can convert it to an individual pension and make your own contributions. You may be able to transfer it to another pension plan (i.e. one supplied by your next employer).
You are able to transfer other pension plans into your Mulalley Group Pension. This is not a complicated process but one you should consider carefully before undertaking. The common benefit of combining personal pensions is to simplify your financial arrangements, but you should also consider things like the costs and charges involved, the funds available, and the benefit of keeping your investments diversified.
If you want us to advise you with this we will treat it as new advice. We will be paid a commission based on the transfer value of the plans you are moving You can pay a fee instead of you wish.
Basic rate tax relief is automatically included in your contributions. If you pay higher rate tax then you need to claim this back via your tax return.To do this you will need a schedule of contributions paid in the tax year you are claiming form. Give us a call and we can request this for you.
Higher rate tax relief is a valuable benefit. Don’t forget to claim it!
The future value of your pension fund will depend on the contributions you have made and the performance of your chosen funds. The returns are not guaranteed, and there is always an element of risk in any investment. However, investing for the long term (10+ years) is a great way to build wealth.
Disclaimer
This page is for information and education and is not advice.
Our advice is always bespoke and in writing.
Contact us to discuss your needs or arrange a meeting with one of our chartered advisers.
Any companies and products mentioned are for information only and are not a personal recommendation.
The rules and legislation governing pensions, retirement and tax may change in the future, but the information above is correct at the time of writing.
