Information for employees who are not active members of a GE pension plan
If you are employed by GE Caledonian Limited then please read “10 December 2013” in place of “1 December 2013” throughout this section.
If you are not an active member of a GE pension plan on 1 December 2013, or if you are already an active member of the GE Pension Saver but your total contributions (from your salary and your Flex Fund) are less than 3% of your annual salary, then what happens will depend on your age and your earnings on that date.
We will automatically enrol people who meet the auto-enrolment criteria, i.e. who:
• earn over £9,440 a year (£787 a month);
• work or usually work in the UK;
• are aged 22 or over; and
• are under their State Pension Age.
What will happen if I meet the criteria on 1 December 2013?
If on 1 December 2013 (for employees of GE Caledonian Limited, 10 December 2013) you are aged 22 or over, under your State Pension Age, work or usually work in the UK, and earn more than £9,440 a year (£787 a month), we will enrol you into the Pension Saver on that date. We won’t deduct any contributions from your salary, but GE will make contributions to the scheme on your behalf of 3% of your salary, which will be deducted from your Flex Fund.
• Once you have been enrolled into the Pension Saver, you can choose to opt out if you want to.
• GE will make contributions to the Pension Saver each payroll period.
• You also have the right to join the Pension Saver before 1 December if you want to (see the section headed ‘What if I want to join the Pension Saver before 1 December 2013? below for further details).
Note: GE has, as allowed by law, postponed your automatic enrolment into the Pension Saver until 1 December 2013 (for employees of GE Caledonian Limited, 10 December 2013). During this period, you have the right to join the Pension Saver if you want to.
What will happen if I do not meet the criteria?
You will not be automatically enrolled into the Pension Saver on 1 December 2013 if any of the following applies to you:
A You are aged under 22 years, or over State Pension age (but under age 75), OR
B You earn more than £5,668 (£473 a month), but not more than £9,440 a year (£787 a month), OR
UK - 78069789.1 C You are aged between 16 and 74, and you earn £5,668 or less a year (£473 a month).
In any case, you still have the right to join the Pension Saver (see the section headed ‘What if I want to join the Pension Saver before 1 December 2013? below for further details). Employees in these categories will be treated the same as employees who are automatically enrolled. This means that GE will make contributions to the scheme on your behalf of 3% of your salary, which will be deducted from your Flex Fund.
Note: Under the new law, only employees meeting criteria A and B above are entitled to receive employer contributions towards the Pension Saver. However, GE has decided to treat employees in categories A, B and C the same and therefore to make contributions to the Pension Saver for all employees in these categories who choose to join the Pension Saver.
Please note that the requirement for GE to automatically enrol you into the Pension Saver may be triggered in the future. This is likely to happen when you reach age 22 or if you start to earn more than £9,440 a year. If this does happen, we will write to you again with further information.
What if I want to join the Pension Saver before 1 December 2013?
You can join the Pension Saver before 1 December 2013 if you want, by logging onto the FlexChoice website and using the self-service function under ‘Change of Circumstances’.
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