Planning for the future
When it comes to taking the money in your pension pot, you have a number of options. We know it can be hard to know what to do, so we’ve set up extra support for members who are thinking about taking their pension savings.
Your savings in the Whitbread scheme are flexible and you can use the money in the way that’s best for you. You can take up to 25% of your savings as a tax-free cash lump sum (capped at £268,275 for most members) and then use the rest in one of several ways.
Your reading list:
Your options
Take it all as cash (as one or more lump sum payments)
You can take all your pension pot as a one-off cash lump sum. You can take up to 25% of your pension pot as a tax-free cash lump sum (capped at £268,275 for most members).
Set up a regular guaranteed income (which is known as an annuity)
If you want a guaranteed income, you can use the money in your pension pot to buy an annuity. An annuity is an insurance policy, which means an insurance company promises to pay you an income for the rest of your life. How much the insurance company pays you will depend on lots of things, including your age, your health and whether you would like your spouse to receive a pension on your death. If you want an annuity, you will need to move some or all of your pension pot to an insurer who sells annuities. Once you’ve bought an annuity, you can’t change your mind.
Set up something called flexible income drawdown (where you continue to invest your pension pot and take an income from it as and when you need)
If you want to set up flexible income drawdown, you can either move your pension pot to another pension provider or move it into the Aptia Master Trust (MMT). If you keep it invested in the MMT in the same way as it’s invested in the Whitbread pension scheme, it will move across at no cost to you.
A combination of these (you don’t have to choose just one of these options but can mix and match them to suit your circumstances)
For example, you might want to use drawdown and cash at the start of your retirement when your expenses might be higher, but then buy an annuity later if you don’t want to carry on managing your pension income yourself. It’s completely flexible and up to you.
Use this tool to work out how much money might be in your pension pot by the time you want to stop working.
Fill in your details and click on the ‘Calculate’ button.
If you are salaried, this is your contractual pay, not including bonus, car allowance and any other cash benefits. If you are paid hourly, this is your contracted hours multiplied by your hourly rate.
Total pay is the total gross pay you receive in a month. If you are hourly paid and work more hours than you are contracted to, it will be higher than your basic pay. If you are salaried, it will include things like bonus that aren’t included in your basic pay.
Estimated pension pot value at age:
£
Based on your current Whitbread pension pot of £ as at and total pay of £
You’re in the Auto-enrolment Section, where the amount that goes into your pension each month is based on everything you earn between £520 and £4,189 a month (known as your ‘qualifying earnings’). This includes any overtime or bonus you earn. You pay 5% and Whitbread pays 3% of your qualifying earnings. Apart from the pension itself, you don’t get any other benefits.
Use the slider to see how changing your retirement age affects how much is in your pension pot in the Auto-enrolment Section.
Retirement Age
Or explore how it could change if you join the Pension Options Section.
If you’re thinking about changing your pension contributions, you can use our cost calculator to see how much it will cost you after tax relief (if applicable), and how much Whitbread will pay into your pension pot. You can make your contribution choices through Dayforce.
If you join the Pension Options Section, you get free life cover of 4 x basic pay, plus an ill-health benefit. These benefits are not available to members in the Auto-enrolment Section.
It’s important to remember that the pension pot values shown will most likely be different to what you will actually get. This is because they are based on a number of guesses about what will happen in the future, known as assumptions.
For example, we have assumed that you and Whitbread will carry on paying into the pension scheme between now and when you retire. We have also made assumptions about how your pay might increase in future, what might happen to the cost of living and how your pension investments might grow. We have assumed you will remain invested in the Growth Fund throughout your membership. The Growth Fund moves your money into lower-risk investments as you get closer to retirement age.
Future Additional Voluntary Contribution payments have not been included.
The estimated pension pot value shows what you might get back at retirement in ‘today’s money’. This means that we’ve taken inflation into account, in order to show you the buying power of your pension pot in today’s money. Inflation reduces the buying power of all savings and investments. Inflation could be higher or lower than what we have assumed and will affect the size of your pension pot at retirement.
The modeller results are for illustration only and are not in any way a guarantee. The value of your pension pot can go down as well as up, and you may get back less than has been paid in. You can keep track of how much your pension pot is worth by logging in to OneView.
Estimated pension pot value at age:
£
Based on your basic pay of £ and current Whitbread pension pot of £ as at .
Use the sliders to see how changing your contribution rate and/or retirement age affects how much is in your pension pot.
Retirement Age
Contribution Rate
If you’re thinking about changing your pension contributions, you can use our cost calculator to see how much it will cost you after tax relief (if applicable), and how much Whitbread will pay into your pension pot. You can make your contribution choices through Dayforce.
If you join the Pension Options Section, you get free life cover of 4 x basic pay, plus an ill-health benefit. These benefits are not available to members in the Auto-enrolment Section.
It’s important to remember that the pension pot values shown will most likely be different to what you will actually get. This is because they are based on a number of guesses about what will happen in the future, known as assumptions.
For example, we have assumed that you and Whitbread will carry on paying into the pension scheme between now and when you retire. We have also made assumptions about how your pay might increase in future, what might happen to the cost of living and how your pension investments might grow. We have assumed you will remain invested in the Growth Fund throughout your membership. The Growth Fund moves your money into lower-risk investments as you get closer to retirement age.
Future Additional Voluntary Contribution payments have not been included.
The estimated pension pot value shows what you might get back at retirement in ‘today’s money’. This means that we’ve taken inflation into account, in order to show you the buying power of your pension pot in today’s money. Inflation reduces the buying power of all savings and investments. Inflation could be higher or lower than what we have assumed and will affect the size of your pension pot at retirement.
The modeller results are for illustration only and are not in any way a guarantee. The value of your pension pot can go down as well as up, and you may get back less than has been paid in. You can keep track of how much your pension pot is worth by logging in to OneView.
Estimated pension pot value at age:
£
Based on your current Whitbread pension pot of £ as at and total pay of £ and basic pay of £
Pension Options Section
£
Retirement Age
Contribution Rate
In the Pension Options Section, the amount that goes into your pension each month is based on your basic pay, excluding any overtime and bonus you earn. You can choose how much you pay into this section and Whitbread matches what you pay, up to 10%. Use the sliders to see how changing your contribution rate and/or retirement age affects how much is in your pension pot. As you change your retirement age, both pension pot figures will change, but choosing a different contribution rate will only change your pension pot in the Pension Options Section.
If you’re thinking about changing your pension contributions, you can use our cost calculator to see how much it will cost you after tax relief (if applicable), and how much Whitbread will pay into your pension pot. You can make your contribution choices through Dayforce.
If you join the Pension Options Section, you get free life cover of 4 x basic pay, plus an ill-health benefit. These benefits are not available to members in the Auto-enrolment Section.
It’s important to remember that the pension pot values shown will most likely be different to what you will actually get. This is because they are based on a number of guesses about what will happen in the future, known as assumptions.
For example, we have assumed that you and Whitbread will carry on paying into the pension scheme between now and when you retire. We have also made assumptions about how your pay might increase in future, what might happen to the cost of living and how your pension investments might grow. We have assumed you will remain invested in the Growth Fund throughout your membership. The Growth Fund moves your money into lower-risk investments as you get closer to retirement age.
Future Additional Voluntary Contribution payments have not been included.
The estimated pension pot value shows what you might get back at retirement in ‘today’s money’. This means that we’ve taken inflation into account, in order to show you the buying power of your pension pot in today’s money. Inflation reduces the buying power of all savings and investments. Inflation could be higher or lower than what we have assumed and will affect the size of your pension pot at retirement.
The modeller results are for illustration only and are not in any way a guarantee. The value of your pension pot can go down as well as up, and you may get back less than has been paid in. You can keep track of how much your pension pot is worth by logging in to OneView.
Pros & cons
Each of these options has pros and cons. Therefore, it’s a good idea to think about your own circumstances and get some guidance before making a final decision. Here are some of the things to think about:
- When do you want to retire?
- Do you have a partner who’s also going to retire?
- Do you have any dependants you need to provide for?
- What’s your health like?
- Do you want to manage your pension income yourself?
- Do you have any other pensions or sources of income?
- Do you have debts or a mortgage to pay off?
Help & guidance
The Pensions Decisions Service at Aptia allows you to speak with someone who understands pensions and the Whitbread scheme in detail and can take you through your options. The service isn’t formal financial advice, but it’s there to help you make an informed decision about what to do. And it won’t cost you a penny.
When you get closer to taking your pension, or if you let us know you’re planning to take it, we’ll send you details of your options and how to contact the Pensions Decisions Service.
Pension Wise
From the age of 50, you’re entitled to a guidance session about your retirement options from Pension Wise, which is a government service provided by MoneyHelper. It’s completely free and is available online, in person or over the phone. Your adviser will talk you through the different options and help you understand what’s right for you. You can book your Pension Wise appointment yourself on the MoneyHelper website or you can ask Aptia to help arrange one for you.
Independent financial advice
If you prefer, you can use your own independent financial adviser, but you will have to pay for this. Make sure you use an adviser who’s qualified to give advice about pensions, and watch out for pension scams. You can find an adviser in your local area by going to VouchedFor or Unbiased, or use the retirement adviser directory on the MoneyHelper website.
Watch out for scams
Sadly, scammers are continuing to target pension pots of all sizes, so please be vigilant when you’re making your retirement decisions. Around half of all pension savers don’t believe they’re at risk of being targeted by a pension scammer, but scams can happen to anyone, and no pension pot is too small for a scammer.
Common pension scams include early pension release or a free pension review.
Make sure that you always:
- reject any out-of-the-blue contact about your pension or investments
- check the Financial Conduct Authority’s warning list
- avoid being rushed into any decisions
- get impartial advice.
Don’t let a scammer ruin your retirement. There’s more information on The Pensions Regulator’s website about pension scams and how to avoid them.