Frequently asked questions

Your statement covers the 12-month period ending 30 June 2024, the pension scheme's year-end. It includes contributions invested from 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024.

You can view your latest pension balance by signing into your Smart Pension account.

By law, we're required to send annual pension statements to our members within 12 months after our scheme year end, which is 30 June 2024. Annual pension statements are sent in batches, so you and your colleagues may not all receive your statements at the same time.

Your employer might offer you the option of salary sacrifice as part of their

workplace pension arrangement. This is a way to make your pension saving more tax-efficient and could mean your take home pay increases.
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If you choose to take up the option, you and your employer will agree to reduce your salary by the amount of your contribution, and your employer will then pay that difference into your pension, along with their contribution to the pension scheme.
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As you’re effectively earning a lower salary, both you and your employer pay lower National Insurance contributions (NICs), which often means your take-home pay will be higher.
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​If you use salary sacrifice, your annual statement will show your contributions as paid by your employer.

If you pay by salary sacrifice, your employer pays your contribution on your behalf. This means the amount you've saved will show as £0.

The normal minimum pension age (NMPA) is the minimum age you can start taking money from your pension. You can currently access your pension savings once you turn 55.

This isn’t the same as your selected retirement age, which is the age you’ve chosen to retire at. Your selected retirement age could be years later than the NMPA.

From 6 April 2028, the NMPA will increase to 57 for most people. This means you’ll need to be aged 57 or older before you can start taking your pension savings.

There are still some circumstances where you can take money earlier, for example, you have a protected pension age or you’re retiring because of ill health.

The Smart Pension Master Trust is a pension scheme authorised and regulated by The Pensions Regulator that helps you save for your retirement.

We are required to send you an annual statement if you held a pension value between 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024. If you have since transferred or left the pension scheme, there is no action for you to take.

You will receive a statement for each account you have with Smart Pension. You could have more than one account if you left employment and then returned to work for the same employer. You could also have been employed by multiple employers who use Smart Pension as their pension provider.

Once you've activated your Smart Pension account, to sign in to it you'll need:

You can find out more about signing in to your Smart Pension account by reading our help article or by watching our tutorial.

If you pay by salary sacrifice, your employer pays your contribution on your behalf. This means the amount you've saved will show as £0.

It's important that all your personal details are up to date. You can update them by signing in to your Smart Pension account.

Additionally, if you have left your company's pension arrangement, please update your account with your personal email address and telephone number so we can keep in touch. This is important so that you don’t lose track of your pension savings.

Remember, your statement won't include any contributions or transfers invested after 30 June 2024. It also won't include any deductions from your salary that we have not yet received from your employer. We will include these payments in your next statement.

You can view the current value of your pension savings by signing in to your Smart Pension account.

If you think your statement contains any incorrect information, please get in touch using our contact form.

If you’re still contributing to your account, we have assumed you’ll continue to contribute until you reach your selected retirement age. We’ve also assumed that your contributions will increase each year as your salary increases with inflation.

If you have stopped contributing, the amount you’ll see is based on how much you saved before you stopped contributing.

We’ve had to make some other assumptions to calculate the estimated value of your pension savings at your selected retirement age. We’ve assumed that:

To work out how much your pension savings could be worth, we assumed a growth rate based on the funds your money is invested in. We then reduce this figure by what inflation could be between now and your selected retirement age. This means what’s shown reflects what you could buy in today’s money. You can find out about the new growth rate assumptions by reading this article.

Section two also shows you what monthly income you could receive if you use your pension savings to buy a guaranteed income (also known as an annuity). We’ve assumed that when you turn your pension savings into an income, you don’t take a lump sum, you don’t want your income to go up each year to keep up with inflation and you don’t want to provide an income for anyone else after you die. We’ve also assumed that the annuity is payable only to you and not a spouse or partner.

You don’t need to buy a guaranteed income with the money and can normally take 25% of your pot as a tax-free lump sum. You can change your selected retirement age at any time by signing into your Smart Pension account. Please note, the scheme does not currently offer annuities. If you’re interested in taking your savings in this way, you would need to transfer to another provider who offers this option.

An investment growth assumption is a specific percentage of investment growth over a set period of time.

At Smart Pension, we use investment growth assumptions each year to provide members with a personalised projected fund value for their selected retirement age. The basis for calculating these assumptions is set out by the Financial Reporting Council (FRC).

You can find out about the new growth rate assumptions by reading this article.

Yes, you can. Your statement will show you what charges have been deducted from your account in pounds and pence.

These charges are for managing and investing your pension savings. You can find and learn more about the charges you pay by watching our short video.

The best way to find out about the charges you pay is to sign into your Smart Pension account. Once signed in, go to Investments, then scroll to the bottom of the page and select Charges for investments.

Any additional charges that have been applied to your account will appear in the Contributions section of your Smart Pension account.

If you have any questions about your charges, you can contact us using our online form, or if you have any problems signing in, please visit our help article.

If you haven't selected a retirement age, we will use the default scheme retirement age of 65 to calculate how much you could have at retirement. You can change your retirement age at any time – just sign into your account and click Retirement age, edit to your chosen age, followed by Update retirement age.

The government plans to increase the minimum age at which you can retire to age 57 from April 2028. If you have selected a retirement age below age 57 and would not reach age 57 before this date, you may want to consider amending your retirement age on your account. We will be making changes in the run up to this change and will let you know more details about how this may affect you.

Your pension sits outside your estate – it’s not covered by your will. This means that if you die before you retire, your pension savings can be paid as a lump sum to one or more beneficiaries. Usually, a beneficiary won’t pay personal or inheritance tax on that money. This is why it's important to keep your beneficiaries up to date (for example, if you marry, divorce, remarry or enter into a civil partnership).

It’s quick and easy to nominate who you’d you like to receive your pension savings – just sign in to your account, scroll down, click on Beneficiaries and then select Add beneficiaries.

Pension fraud is one of the fastest-growing types of crime in the UK. It is very important to make sure that you do not put yourself at risk of losing money through some of today’s increasingly sophisticated scams. To learn more about how to spot potential scams, use the help guide on our website.

You can also find more information about protecting yourself from scams at www.fca.org.uk/scamsmart, The Pensions Regulator’s scam booklet, or by visiting www.pension-scams.com. If you suspect a scam, report it to the Financial Conduct Authority’s consumer helpline on 0800 111 6768 or contact Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040. Alternatively, you can contact MoneyHelper, who will be able to provide guidance, on 0800 011 3797.

No. We don't show any state pension you might be entitled to in your annual statement. You can check your state pension age and what your state pension might be worth by visiting the government website.

No, we do not currently offer annuities. However, Smart Pension has partnered with Punter Southall to help you get the best annuity rate based on your circumstances. If you’re age 55 or over, you can use their Pension Potential annuity finder service to search the annuity market for free, with no obligation.

Get started at smart pension.pension potential.co.uk.

Yes, the Smart Pension Master Trust is tax-registered and there are no plans for this to change.