We’re always looking for new ways to help your employees enjoy a better retirement. Whether that’s putting support in place so they better understand their options or creating new products that offer flexibility and ease in later life.
A helpline just for Nest members
Lots of people can feel vulnerable and confused as they approach retirement and want trusted sources of information when taking big decisions. That’s why we’ve set up a dedicated helpline for Nest members at the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS), an independent organisation established by the government. MaPS operators can provide free and impartial retirement guidance and they’ve been trained to deliver specific support about Nest pension options too.
MaPS can also assist employees of all ages with a range of financial issues, including borrowing and debt management. By offering a space to talk in confidence about money, this service can help your workforce to be happier and more productive. After all, financial worries are one of the most common reasons for stress-related absences and reduced efficiency.
Let your employees know about the helpline today, it’s available on 0800 678 1648.
Helping employees make the most of pension freedoms
One of the topics that MaPS can support your employees with is the UK pension freedoms introduced in 2015. These reforms changed how pension pots can be accessed and employees might need guidance when choosing between different withdrawal options.
To give your employees freedom and flexibility when accessing their savings, we launched the Nest Guided Retirement Fund. The fund allows for regular and sustainable cash withdrawals while keeping most of the pension pot invested. Our aim is to ensure there’s enough left for a guaranteed income to be purchased in later life to reduce the risk of money running out. The fund’s available to employees over the age of 60 who have more than £10,000 in their pot. They’re automatically moved into the fund on their intended retirement date if they meet the criteria but can use their pot in a different way at any time.
This fund does the hard work for your employees in later life and lets them use their savings in ways that reflect the realities of modern retirement.
Keeping our retirement hub on trend
We analyse trends among our membership and make improvements to our retirement hub to meet your employees’ needs. The hub covers every step of the retirement journey and the MaPS helpline now gives further guidance along the way.
Here’s some of the latest things we’ve noticed:
There’s still a high demand from members to take all their pension pot as a cash lump sum. This may not be in their best interests, especially if they’re still in employment. It could lead to a high tax bill and will lower their annual allowance, reducing the amount they can keep saving into a pension before paying tax. Some employees feel forced into this option because of their circumstances and signposting them to support can help them understand this complex decision.
At the other end of the scale, we’re seeing a growing trend to combine pension pots. While transferring savings into one place is appealing, some providers charge your employees higher fees to manage their pots which can end up reducing their retirement income.
It doesn’t have to be costly to combine pensions pots and your employees could benefit by bringing theirs together with Nest. We don’t charge anything at all for transfers in or out, but there may be penalty fees from other providers. Once transferred, employees will only pay our 0.3% annual management charge.
Tell your employees about our retirement support
Our pension communication toolkit contains content you can use to keep your workers informed at every stage of their pension savings journey, including at retirement. You’ll find a template to send to your employees that tells them about the retirement support offered by Nest and Pension Wise, a service provided by MaPS.
