In 09-10, the full SPB for single is £ 95.25 a week. To get the full basic pension, you have to paid or credited with NIC for at lest 90 percent of the tax years in your working life (from age 16 to state pension age). In general, only Class 1 contributions (paid by employees), Class 2(paid by self-employed) and Class 3 (paid by voluntary) contributions count as qualifying years. Each year for which you do have enough contributions or credits is called a qualifying year. You need to have a minimum amount of contributions to make a tax year count as a qualifying year. If you reach state pension age before 6 April 2010, you need to have 44 qualifying years to get the full SBP if you are a man, 39 qualifying years for a woman. You must have at least a quarter of the qualifying years needed for a full SBP.
When you cannot work, you may be given NICs to protect your entitlement to the SBP like when you earn less than the lower earnings limit and you are claiming working tax credit.
If you are a carer but not eligible for credits, you may get HRP instead. It deals with gaps in your contribution record. HRP reduces the number of qualifying years you need to get any given level of SBP. But the required number of years less than 20. You can get HRP if you are:
●Caring for one or more children under age 16 for whom you get child benefit.
●From 6 April 2003, a foster carer.
●caring for someone who is long-term ill or disabled and so on.
A married woman can have a basic pension based on her husband’s NIC record rather than her own. The maximum wife’s pension is £50.50 a week. Based on husband’s record and pay less NICs, no longer available.
In this case, Robert’s qualifying years is 47 years> 44 years, so he can get full SBP. But Iona’s qualifying years less than 10 years, so I suggest she use her husband’s NIC records to get pension. Explain to Ailsa the unfairness: she is a single woman, and her mother takes care of her for 5 years, so Iona can get the HRP.
2. The S2P is an amount of state pension you may get on top of any SBP. It is an ‘earnings-related pension’ because the amount depends on their earnings while they were building it up.
The S2P used to be called SERPS but from April 2002 was changed to the S2P. SERPS was available only to employees with earnings at least equal to the LEL (£84 a week in 06-07).Form 6 April 2002, the S2P is open to: people caring for one of more children under the six for whom they are claiming child benefit. People who qualify for carer’s allowance through looking after someone who is ill or disabled. People who are unable to work because of illness or disability provided they are entitled to long-term incapacity benefit or severe disablement allowance. Not include self-employed.
Contracting out of the S2P: contracting out means joining a company, stakeholder or PPS that can be used to replace all, or part, of the S2P.
Under current rules, you build up a S2P at different rates depending on how much you earn. This will change from 2010. There are three bands of earnings, which are: earnings up to the LET (£13900 in 09/10). Earnings above the LET but not above the UET (£31800 in 09/10), and earnings above the UET but not above the UEL (£ 40040 in 09/10). If you’re a carer, you can build up a S2P if you’re not working at all or you’re earning less than 4940 a year (09/10). One of the following applies to you:
●you are caring a child under six and receiving child benefit for the child.
●You are caring an ill or disabled person and are getting HRP.
●You are entitled to carer’s allowance.
For Iona, she took care of her daughter for the first 5 year, so she can build up S2P. She’s also a low earner with 12650(LET), due to the Pension Act 2007, she can pay NICs to build up S2P, but her PPS cannot contract out.
3. Work-related pension schemes are available to employees. The most common characteristic is that contributions are deducted directly from your pay and passed to the scheme provider. Occupational scheme is organized by employer who pays into scheme on your behalf, you need contribute, too. The two main types are DB and DC.
OPS have some benefits: 1. early retirement benefits, reduced pension if you choose to retire early. 2. ill-health benefits, pension if you have to retire early due to illness or disability. 3. Death benefits, pension for spouse if you die before or after retirement. 4. tax advantages.
In DB, you are promised a certain level of pension in relation to your earnings regardless of the amount you pay in. In a non-contributory scheme, you pay nothing and your employer meets the full cost. The amount your employer has to pay varies depending on: how well the invested contributions grow and the cost of the pensions once they start to be paid. In this way, with a DB, your employer rather than you bears most of the risk involved in saving for retirement.
DC is the main alternative to DB. The pension you get depends on how much is invested and how well the investments perform. The amount of money you get at retirement depends on: the amount paid into the scheme, how well the invested contributions grow, the charge deducted and annuity rates. Unlike DB, employer simply pays in a set amount in contributions which means bear no risk of costs. So in this case, Robert’s DB will change to DC by his employer. Unlike DB, there are no commutation factors.
So above all, DB is difficult to understand, while DC is not. Besides, DB has predictable pension benefits while DC has unpredictable amount of pension.
In case, DB’s cost and risk are higher than DC, so Robert’s DB will change to DC. His employer should ensure Robert has 47*1/60*53000 pension at retirement. OPS required by law to increase pensions in line with price inflation up to a maximum of 2.5% a year.
4. If you track for a low pension from OPS, the main way to boost your OPS is to pay extra contributions. Many employers run in-house AVC which let you pay in extra to built up extra benefits. There are some features of in-house AVC: charges and investment choice, matched contributions and taking the benefits.
you can also choose FSAVC, which can top up the benefits from your OPS. Before 2006 A Day: You can have more than one AVC at any one time; You can have only one FSAVC in any one tax year. All pension contribution must not be greater than 15% of total earnings. After: no limits on contributions but the maximam tax relief is restricted to your annual not relevent earnings.
3 limitations: 1. the maximum contribution annually (tax relief-before age 75, basic amount of 3600 or if higher, an amount equal to your relevant earnings for the tax year). If you go over your annual limit for relief, any tax relief on the excess contributions must be paid back. 2. You have an annual allowance each year which sets the amount by which your total pension savings can increase. Tax rate on the excess is 40% for 09-10 annual limit is $ 245000. 3. your lifetime allowance is a value of benefits (pensions, tax-free lump sums and payments to your survivors if you die) that can be drawn from all of your pension schemes without tax charge. 55% tax rate on the excess if you draw it as a lump sum or 25% leave the excess in the scheme and draw it as taxable pension. 09-10 $1.75 million standard lifetime.
第四题貌似没有结合案例的地方~~问了几个同学~
5. Before 2006 A Day reform: Pre-1987, pension-2/3 final remuneration after 10 years, 1.5 final remuneration after 20 years for the tax free cash, no earning cap. After A-Day reform: in house-AVC, FSAVC have been replaced by PPS or other means. AVC-employees excluding self-employed. PPS-topping up your pension income. In the case, Robert could join a PPS to top up his OPS, it is better and cheaper if his employer give him a financial organization to get PPS. If Robert use his income to contribute, his tax relief=53000*100/80-53000
6. PPS are available to those who need to make independent arrangements. Before April 2006, employees only can choose either OPS or PPS. Now you are free to top up your pension savings in any way you choose. You may use PPS if you are self-employed and if you are an employee but there is no OPS, you could join a group PPS or stakeholder scheme through your workplace. In the case, Iona cannot take OPS because there are only four people in her workplace, not enough for OPS. So she could join a group personal pension scheme or stakeholder scheme.
The amount of pension depends on the contributions paid in, how well the invested contributions grow, the charges deducted and the annuity rates at the time you start the pension. The rest is used to provide a pension by: an annuity and/or income withdrawal. You can choose annuity like: escalating annuity, RPI-linked annuity and LPI annuity.
Income withdrawal means leaving your pension fund invested and drawing a pension straight from the fund instead of buying an annuity. From the employer’s viewpoint, the contribution paid is treated as business expense. Information disclosure requirements fall on the pension product providers.
7. 养老金课本 照抄即可。 83 86页 不结合案例