Jargon Buster

   

Salary Exchange

As a result of salary exchange, you do not pay an employee contribution to your pension and the Company pay this on your behalf (and your salary is reduced by the same amount). For more information on this, read the salary exchange guide.

Annual Allowance

There is a limit on how much you can contribute to your pension each year and receive tax relief for. This is known as the Annual Allowance and is £40,000 for 2022/23. The Annual Allowance is now tapered (from £40,000 to £10,000) for individuals with total income of over £240,000. More information is available at www.hmrc.gov.uk

You can contribute more than this, but a tax charge may apply and it will be up to you to declare this on your self assessment tax return.

If you think you may be affected or would like to know more about this please contact Sharon Cairney, UK Pensions & Reward Manager.

Lifetime Allowance

You can build up funds in registered pension schemes up to a specified Lifetime Allowance without being taxed. For the tax year 2022/23 the Lifetime Allowance is £1,073,100. If you build up more than this allowance, you will be charged 55% of any excess if the excess is paid to you as a lump sum. Alternatively, if you take the excess as pension you will be charged 25% of any excess.

If you think you may be affected or would like to know more about this please contact Sharon Cairney, UK Pensions & Reward Manager.

Bond

An investment issued by governments and companies who wish to borrow money and in return promise to pay interest and eventually repay the face value of the loan on a specified date in the future. Insurance companies set the cost of an annuity (or pension) according to the market value of bonds, so investing in bonds can help a person approaching retirement to protect the pension buying power of their savings.

Cash

Investing in cash can be seen as similar to investing in a savings account with a high street bank or building society. Investments in cash are normally for the short term, as while they are associated with low levels of risk, they generally offer a low return compared to other investments.

Equity

Shares in public companies traded on a stock market. Buying shares in a company gives the purchaser the right to share in the profits of the company. Over the long term, investors in equities expect the value of shares to grow more than the value of bonds or cash. However, this is not guaranteed and shares prices can fluctuate a great deal.

Gilts

A UK government bond. As a gilt is issued by the government there is little risk of the interest or the value of the bond not being paid – corporate bonds issued by companies are moderately higher risk