A final salary scheme provides a guaranteed level of income in retirement which is paid by Cheviot from your Normal Retirement Date. This promise is underwritten by the scheme sponsor. The scheme sponsor is usually the employer you worked for when you were a member of the scheme, but it may be a different employer if there have been corporate changes since you left.
Your benefits were calculated when you left the scheme. You should have received a leaving service statement at the time, setting out how much your pension was worth then. Your pension increases until you reach retirement, usually by a measure linked to inflation. When you start to receive your pension, usually part or all of that pension will increase in payment.
If you can’t find your leaving service statement, or the updated statement we issued to most members, please contact our administration team so we can send you a copy. We are working to enable you to access this online in the future.
Each year, Cheviot will send you a Summary Funding Statement. This is an important document which includes information to help you understand how well your scheme is funded and how secure your benefits are. These statements are usually issued in September.
The Summary Funding Statement explains how the assets of your scheme are invested. Unlike a money purchase scheme, the investment returns do not affect the benefits you have been promised, which are supported by your former employer. However, the investment strategy is still important as part of the scheme’s overall strategy to provide your benefits. You could also read the Statement of Investment Principles which sets out how the Trustee invests the assets of the scheme.
If the scheme is wound up and doesn’t have enough assets to pay all the pensions that have been promised to members, and the employer can’t make up the gap, the Government’s Pension Protection Fund (PPF) would pay your benefits. The pension you receive from the PPF is likely to be less than the full benefit you have earned in the scheme. You can find out more about the PPF at www.ppf.co.uk.
You can transfer your benefits if you have not yet retired. You should think carefully before doing so as a guaranteed pension is a valuable benefit and should not be transferred to a different type of pension arrangement without taking advice. Cheviot is not authorised to provide financial advice.
Currently the Cheviot Dashboard is not available to our Final Salary members. We are working hard to add this functionality and will update you in due course.