The webinar covered a round up of our Investment strategy, an update on what the future might hold with changes in legislation and what the government’s pension’s commission will be doing and a brief overview of salary sacrifice.
The presentations and live demo are available below to watch again or share with colleagues:
Speakers :
Hosted by Claudine Bell, Key Account Manager
Elizabeth Fernando, Chief Investment Officer
Philip Brown, Director of Policy and Public Affairs
David Knight, Head of Key Account Management
The slides from the webinar are available here: September webinar slides
During the roundtable we received some additional questions which we did not have time for, answers can be found below:
Q: What does AUM stand for?
Answer: AUM is an acronym used for ‘Assets under management
Q: Will the 10 year link between private and state pension age be reviewed ? Employees are concerned that it is their money and why cant they access it when they want to
Answer: The answer to the question below is – The government has launched the State Pension Age Review. This includes independent reports commissioned from Dr Suzy Morrissey on factors government should consider relating to State Pension age, as well as from the Government Actuary’s Department on the proportion of adult life in retirement. That said the 10 link is less likely to change than the state retirement age. If the state retirement age does get increased, I would expect the normal minimum retirement for other pensions to be increased by the same proportion.
Q: Would you recommend use of salary sacrifice for employees on variable pay calculated as hourly pay with overtime? If the employer offers salary sacrifice to salaried staff, are they obliged to offer it to hourly-paid staff?
Answer: I am sorry, but we cannot provide advice or recommendations. If you are going to offer salary sacrifice to hourly paid workers, then you should consider allowing a sufficient margin above the minimum wage so that you do not risk these workers falling below the minimum wage. We do see employers offering salary sacrifice to salaried staff only and it’s important to set your strategy and identify the groups of employees you will offer this to. When selecting these groups, you should consider if this will create any form of discrimination, and this is why we suggest you consult with your HR specialist.
Q: Can non contractual bonuses be salary sacrificed?
Answer: Non contractual bonuses can be sacrificed but that the timing of the sacrifice agreement is important and this should be before the bonus becomes payable
Q: Do you think salary sacrifices in exchange for employer pension contributions will be attacked by November’s budget?
Answer: It is difficult to anticipate what changes will happen in the next budget at the end of November 2025. At the last budget there was a lot of speculation about pension salary sacrifice and no changes were made. Like last time we are not speculating on what the chancellor might do
Q: Is the salary sacrifice pension calculated on the base of basic earning?
Answer: The way in which you decide to meet the workplace pension requirement is a separate decision to the decision to introduce salary sacrifice.
So, if you are currently using qualifying earnings you can continue to do that and introduce salary sacrifice. If you are using one of the alternatives (SET’s 1,2, or 3) you can continue to do this and introducing salary sacrifice will just change the way you pay the contributions. Salary sacrifice is a way to pay pension contributions which saves national insurance. It isn’t a different way to meet the auto enrolment duties.
Q: Can you offer salary sacrifice to certain employees – i.e those who earn over a certain salary amount? Or does it have to be offered to every employee?
Answer: It is for the employer to decide who they offer salary sacrifice to. In making this decision they should be careful to consider any potential discrimination.