A pension is a fund into which amounts are paid regularly during the individual's working career, and from which periodic payments are made to support the person's retirement from work. A pension may be:
United Kingdom labour law regulates the relations between workers, employers and trade unions. People at work in the UK can rely upon a minimum set of employment rights, which are found in Acts of Parliament, Regulations, common law and equity. This includes the right to a minimum wage of £10.42 for over-23-year-olds from April 2023 under the National Minimum Wage Act 1998. The Working Time Regulations 1998 give the right to 28 days paid holidays, breaks from work, and attempt to limit long working hours. The Employment Rights Act 1996 gives the right to leave for child care, and the right to request flexible working patterns. The Pensions Act 2008 gives the right to be automatically enrolled in a basic occupational pension, whose funds must be protected according to the Pensions Act 1995.
In the United Kingdom, taxation may involve payments to at least three different levels of government: central government, devolved governments and local government. Central government revenues come primarily from income tax, National Insurance contributions, value added tax, corporation tax and fuel duty. Local government revenues come primarily from grants from central government funds, business rates in England, Council Tax and increasingly from fees and charges such as those for on-street parking. In the fiscal year 2014–15, total government revenue was forecast to be £648 billion, or 37.7 per cent of GDP, with net taxes and National Insurance contributions standing at £606 billion.
Jobcentre Plus is a brand used by the Department for Work and Pensions in the United Kingdom.
Employee benefits and benefits in kind, also called fringe benefits, perquisites, or perks, include various types of non-wage compensation provided to employees in addition to their normal wages or salaries. Instances where an employee exchanges (cash) wages for some other form of benefit is generally referred to as a "salary packaging" or "salary exchange" arrangement. In most countries, most kinds of employee benefits are taxable to at least some degree. Examples of these benefits include: housing furnished or not, with or without free utilities; group insurance ; disability income protection; retirement benefits; daycare; tuition reimbursement; sick leave; vacation ; social security; profit sharing; employer student loan contributions; conveyancing; long service leave; domestic help (servants); and other specialized benefits.
Pensions in the United Kingdom, whereby United Kingdom tax payers have some of their wages deducted to save for retirement, can be categorised into three major divisions - state, occupational and personal pensions.
A stakeholder pension scheme is a type of personal pension in the United Kingdom.
In Australia, superannuation or "super" is a retirement savings system. It involves money earned by an employee being placed into an investment fund to be made legally available to fund members upon retirement.
A defined contribution (DC) plan is a type of retirement plan in which the employer, employee or both make contributions on a regular basis. Individual accounts are set up for participants and benefits are based on the amounts credited to these accounts plus any investment earnings on the money in the account. In defined contribution plans, future benefits fluctuate on the basis of investment earnings. The most common type of defined contribution plan is a savings and thrift plan. Under this type of plan, the employee contributes a predetermined portion of his or her earnings to an individual account, all or part of which is matched by the employer.
Pensions in the United States consist of the Social Security system, public employees retirement systems, as well as various private pension plans offered by employers, insurance companies, and unions.
The Pensions Act 2004 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom to improve the running of pension schemes.
KiwiSaver is a New Zealand savings scheme which has been operating since 2 July 2007. Participants can normally access their KiwiSaver funds only after the age of 65, but can withdraw them earlier in certain limited circumstances, for example if undergoing significant financial hardship or to use a deposit for a first home.
The National Employment Savings Trust (Nest) is a defined contribution workplace pension scheme in the United Kingdom. It was set up to facilitate automatic enrolment as part of the government's workplace pension reforms under the Pensions Act 2008. Due to its public service obligation, any UK employer can use Nest to meet its new workplace duties as set out in the Pensions Act 2008.
A minimum employer contribution is a mandatory pension contribution in the United Kingdom, which was made compulsory by the Pensions Act 2008, however it did not come into force until 2012. As a result, all staff are required to be automatically enrolled in a pension scheme when they join a firm. The Cameron Ministry modified this rule by means of the 2011 Pension Act, which brought the rule into force in a series of tranches of employers, over several years, instead of all at one moment.
The Pension Schemes Act 1993 is a United Kingdom Act of Parliament that concerns the administration of occupational pensions.
Barber v Guardian Royal Exchange Assurance Group (1990) C-262/88 is an EU labour law and UK labour law case concerning sex discrimination in pensions.
Pension Law Reform (1993) Cm 2342, also known as the Goode Report after its leading author, Roy Goode, was a UK government commissioned inquiry into the state of pensions in the United Kingdom, which ultimately led to a set of statutory reforms in the Pensions Act 1995.
A master trust in the UK is a multi-employer occupational pension scheme.
Smart Pension is a pensions and retirement technology business, delivering pensions technology platforms in partnership with other financial institutions, and running a defined contribution master trust pension scheme setup for employers to enrol employees in a workplace pension scheme.
An occupational pension fund, also referred to as an employer funded or employer administered scheme, is a pension offered by an employer to an employee's retirement scheme. Within the European Union (EU), these pension funds can vary throughout certain Member States due to differences in retirement ages in Europe, salaries and length of careers, labour and tax laws, and phases of reform.
