• Giving you an income in retirement
• Unlocking your pension money
• Making the most of your existing funds and tax relief
• Appraisal of all types of scheme from Money Purchase and Final Salary Occupational Schemes through RACs, RAPs, Personal Pensions and Stakeholder Schemes to Executive Personal Pensions, Sections 32s and FURBs

Whilst in your previous job, you may have already made arrangements for a private pension or alternatively you may have kept on putting if off and meaning to do it at some point.

Now that IR35* is in place, pensions are one of the few effective tax breaks open to contractors. They allow you to invest money directly from your company bank account into your pension.

This allows you to avoid paying the income tax and the national insurance you would have paid if you had to contribute from your personal salary. In addition you can reduce your employers NI contributions.

Any growth on your pension funds are tax free and the amount of tax relief especially for high earners can be as much as 48%. This means for every £100 that is invested in your pension, you pay £52 and the tax man contributes £48.

“Your sources of pension income will come from a combination of the following sources:

• State Pension Plan – This is a regular income from the state if you have made contributions throughout your working life.
• State Second Pension Scheme (S2P) – A 'topped up pension' scheme based on additional contributions made throughout your working life which has now replaced SERPS.
• Occupational Pension Scheme – This is a pension scheme that has been set-up by your employer and to which both you and them may have made regular contributions to over your working life. These may be either a 'Final Salary Scheme' or a 'Money Purchase' scheme and this will depend on the individual company that you worked for.
• Personal Pension Plans – This is where you may have set-up your own personal plan and contributed to it from your own personal income.
• Stakeholder Pensions – These became available from April 2001 and allow a minimum of £3600 a year to be invested in a pension plan. Allowances are made for additional contributions based on age.
• Self Invested Personal Pension (SIPP) – Personal pension plans run by individuals, groups or companies offering a high degree of flexibility in how the money is invested. They also have a higher degree of risk than other pension plans.

“A” Day was on 6 April 2006, when the Government pensions bill came into effect. We can explain the consequences of the new legislation on your current pension provision

The amount that you actually need to save will depend on your requirements in the next 20/30/40 years and how much money you will need in your retirement.

Our advisers have a wealth of experience in advising clients on the right pension scheme. They consider:

• Your current financial situation
• The level of income you would like to receive
• Your current and future income
• How flexible you want your payments to be
• Your employment status
• The track record of all pension providers

Once a pension plan has been chosen and you have made your initial investment, we will constantly review the plan to ensure that it continues to perform for you.

*The Intermediaries legislation, now commonly referred to as ‘IR35’, was introduced on 6th April 2000. The aim of the legislation is to eliminate the avoidance of tax and National Insurance Contributions (NICs) through the use of intermediaries, such as service companies or partnerships, in circumstances where an individual worker would otherwise; For tax purposes, be regarded as an employee of the client and for NICs purposes, be regarded as employed in employed earner’s employment by the client.