YOUR HandY GUide to SalaRY PlUS

Transcription

1 YOUR Handy Guide to Salary Plus

2 INTRODUCTION Welcome to the Handy Guide to Salary Plus The Willis Salary Plus Scheme allows you to make choices about the benefits you receive whilst working for Willis. Salary Plus provides the opportunity to elect different rates of contribution to the Willis Group Personal Pension Plan, and arranges for them to be made in the most tax effective way. You can also use the Salary Plus Scheme to extend the coverage provided by the Willis Medical Plan. In addition, it allows you to choose from a range of other optional benefits, such as dental plans, bike to work and even wine club membership. Each of these optional benefits is either tax free, National Insurance free, or benefits from great rates available to Willis Associates - or even all three! The range of optional benefits available under the scheme will be kept under review. We may occasionally need to remove benefits from the Scheme, sometimes at short notice, but we also hope to add new benefits on a regular basis. Willis reserves the right to withdraw, amend, adapt or re-negotiate the terms of the Salary Plus Scheme and associated benefits on offer at any time and their provision to you. Treatment of benefits for Taxation and National Insurance purposes may be subject to immediate change without notice. 2 Willis Salary Plus

3 Making your elections Making your elections Elections are made online. Shortly after joining, usually within the first ten days, you will receive an inviting you to access The Salary Plus Website for the first time. You will be allocated an election window. This is the period during which you must make your initial elections. Your election window will normally be between two weeks and six weeks long, starting when you receive the and ending on the last day of a month. You must submit your elections before the end of your election window. You will not normally get another opportunity to revise your elections until the Annual Enrolment, which takes effect from 1 October each year. If you wish to cover Dependants under the Willis Medical Plan and need to claim before your elections take effect, please contact the Salary Plus Team. The Salary Plus Website must be accessed via the Willis network. Those permanently without access to the Willis network can contact the Salary Plus Team to make their choices. This booklet only gives a very brief summary of the benefits available and is designed to be most appropriate for newly joined members of staff. Refer to the website for full details and important terms and conditions. Willis Salary Plus 3

4 New Joiner Journey Plan New Joiner Journey Plan The following sets out the typical timetable for new joiners Day 1 End of the first or second week Month end between two and eight weeks later First day of the next month During this month End of this month Early in the following month You are immediately covered for life assurance basic medical cover pension, employer contributions only You will receive an from the Salary Plus team. You are now able to log on and choose your options. Your election window closes. Make sure you have made your elections and requested your benefits package by then! Your elections take effect. For insurances, cover starts today. For the Medical Plan we will honour claims for treatment since you joined Willis on the basis of cover now put in place. Willis will inform the administrators and providers of the Medical Plan and Dental Plan of any options you have taken. You will receive a membership packs for these benefits (if taken) towards the end of the month. This is the first paypacket that reflects the charges in respect of your new elections. If you have elected to take childcare vouchers, you should receive a membership pack in the post. If you have taken childcare vouchers your online account should be credited for the first time about now. If you have taken a retail voucher card, the card should arrive about now. You will first receive information about the Pension Plan from Legal & General shortly after your first pay packet. Because any contributions you elect yourself have will not have taken effect yet, the paperwork they provide will not normally reflect your own contributions or the matching contributions payable by the company. You can use the online access to your account to monitor your pension contributions or check your payslip online. 4 Willis Salary Plus

5 PENSIONS pensions The Willis Group Personal Pension Plan ( the Plan ) has been designed with your personal retirement needs in mind. All you have to do is choose how much to save and the payments made to the Plan are then invested on your behalf in the fund or funds of your choice. The Plan is administered by Legal & General, (or Aviva for those on Isle of Man). They will establish a policy containing your own fund so you can keep track of your investments. The size of the fund will depend on the level of payments made, how long they are invested for, how well the investments perform and the charges deducted. New Willis Associates will be automatically enrolled into the Plan unless you specifically choose to opt out or your contract explicitly states otherwise. You do not currently have to make payments to the Plan at all if you do not wish to. Willis currently makes payments of at least 6% of your Pensionable Salary* every month whether you choose to make payments or not, starting with the month you receive your first payslip. Willis will currently increase its own payments by 1% for every 1% of Pensionable Salary that you pay yourself through Salary Plus. The maximum payment Willis will make is 10% of Pensionable Salary. Payment Through Salary Plus Willis Payment Total Combined Payment to L&G Nil 6% 6% 1% 7% 8% 2% 8% 10% 3% 9% 12% 4% 10% 14% You can pay more than 4% if you wish, but Willis will not match any further payments. PLEASE NOTE * Your Pensionable Salary is that part of your Base Salary that exceeds the Single Person s Basic State Pension ( 5, a year in the tax year 2014/15). Your Pensionable Salary will be limited by the Scheme Cap ( 146,400 a year in the tax year 2014/15). Your Base Salary is the basic salary figure before amendment for any payments made under the Salary Plus scheme. Willis Salary Plus 5

6 PENSIONS The Plan is contracted-in to the State pension arrangements which means that in addition to your benefits from the Plan you will also be entitled to benefits from the State Second Pension (S2P) on top of the Basic State Pension. The amount of benefit will depend on your earnings while you are in employment and the National Insurance Contributions paid. Tax position of contributions Salary Plus is a tax-efficient way of saving towards your retirement. If you choose to make payments by Salary Plus, Willis will reduce your contractual salary by the amount of the percentage payment you have chosen. Willis will then pay that payment directly into the Plan for your benefit, along with Willis s payments as set out above. By making payments in this way, they are not subject to National Insurance Contributions (NICs), or income tax. Willis will also save on employer NICs and will pay around one fifth of their savings back to you. Your other Willis benefits will not be affected by joining Salary Plus. They will be based on your Base Salary (i.e. your basic salary before adjustments for Salary Plus payments). Tax thresholds for large pensions You should also consider the total amount that is paid by you and Willis carefully if the amounts become significant. If the total payments to the Scheme (including pension contributions paid via Salary Plus), together with the any other pension benefits you earn elsewhere, exceed the Annual Allowance in scheme years that end in that tax year you will pay a charge calculated at your marginal rate. The Annual Allowance is set at 40,000 in 2014/15. You should consult your personal tax adviser on this issue if you feel it may affect you. 6 Willis Salary Plus

7 PENSIONS There is also a limit on the value of retirement benefits you can draw from an approved pension scheme before tax penalties apply. This limit is called the Lifetime Allowance. The Lifetime Allowance on all pension funds you have is 1.25m for the tax year 2014/15. For any amount above this allowance there is a an additional tax charge of 25% on the excess. Retiring When you retire, the funds that have been built up can be used to purchase a pension called and annuity. You can also take up to 25% of your fund as a tax-free cash sum. From April 2015, there will be more flexibility in the way people draw their pension. We are working with Legal and General to see how Associates can best take advantage of these relaxations. Leaving If you leave Willis, the company will not contribute any more. Existing contributions remain invested until you choose to draw them. You can choose to carry on making your own contributions if you wish to. Death On death before retirement your accrued funds will be used to provide additional benefits for your dependants. This is in addition to the Life Assurance arrangements available to Associates. On death after retirement, the benefits payable will depend on the benefits you elected to secure with your pension fund at retirement. Willis Salary Plus 7

8 MEDICAL Medical plan The Willis Group Medical Plan is designed to offset medical costs and to assist Associates in the event of sickness and injury. The Plan covers a wide range of medical treatments, from outpatient costs right through to major surgery. The benefits covered under the Scheme are subject to review and may alter in line with any developments in health care services, but typically covers: Accommodation in a hospital included in the Willis Group directory Surgeons and anaesthetists services Physicians services for in-patient treatment Operating theatre fees and other ancillary in-patient charges Diagnostic procedures such as pathology, X-rays and ECGs Radiotherapy and chemotherapy Drugs, dressings and medicine prescribed for in-patient treatment Consultations and physiotherapy. More details are shown on the Schedule of Benefits on the next two pages. 8 Willis Salary Plus

9 MEDICAL There are financial limitations on the claims you can make, and there is a deductible which means you will normally pay the first 250 of all claims in a plan year. All New Joiners are automatically provided with a basic level of cover for themselves only. This is known as silver cover. There is no charge for this level of cover but Associates will be liable for tax on the value of the benefit, known as a benefit in kind. A basic rate tax payer would normally pay an extra 71 per year in tax to cover this benefit. If you already know that you definitely don t want to remain in the Plan then you may opt out immediately by completing the form in your offer pack and you will not incur any tax between now and the end of your election window. It will be possible to change your mind during your election window. During the election window shortly after joining Willis Associates may then choose, at their own cost, to either: extend the cover to include their dependants ( gold cover ), enhance the level of cover by increasing the limit on most outpatient treatment (the plus option) or by removing nearly all financial limitations under the Plan (the platinum option). Medical Plan Schedule of Benefits This is a broad summary only of the benefits covered. For more details, guidance and limitations refer to the Salary Plus website. Benefit Limitation In patient and day-patient treatment 1. Private Hospital and day patient unit charges. Including accommodation, nursing, drugs, dressings etc 2. Surgeons, anaesthetists and physicians fees For Silver, Gold and Plus option there is a total scheme benefit limit of 50,000 per person per Plan year Paid in full within benefit limit at hospital in the Directory of Hospitals, up to normal daily rates otherwise No annual maximum 3. In patient consultations No annual maximum 4. Parent accommodation Paid in full within your benefit level Willis Salary Plus 9

10 medical Out patient treatment 5. Surgical Procedures No annual maximum 6. Specialist consultations Benefits 6 to 9 have a combined annual overall limit of 1,000 for each scheme 7. Diagnostic tests on specialist referral year for Gold and Silver members. Paid in 8. Clinical practitioner charges full for Plus or Platinum members. 9. Complementary practitioner charges Limit of 10 sessions of physiotherapy or complementary practitioner treatment a year. 10. Psychiatric specialist consultations Up to 1,000 per Plan year 11. Cancer Treatment Paid in full 12. CT, MRI or PET scans Paid in full at a scanning centre from Directory of Hospitals, 100 per visit otherwise Other Benefits 13. Ambulance transport Paid in full for Platinum members, 100 per Plan year otherwise 14. Hospital at home Up to 600 per scheme year for preagreed nursing under specialist control provided through limited list of suppliers 15. NHS Cash benefit 60 per night up to 5,000 per Plan year, conditions apply 10 Willis Salary Plus

11 HEALTH Additional Life Assurance Members of the Willis Pension Arrangements are already entitled to an automatic level of Life Assurance, usually 4 x Base Salary. But you can increase the level of security for your family by selecting Additional Life Assurance through Salary Plus, in addition to the automatic cover. You can select up to an additional 4 times salary at your first election. Salary is subject to a limit of 146,400 pa or the part time equivalent. This benefit is not available to those aged 65 or over or those who are not currently actively at work. Only in very rare cases will any medical information be needed. Costs vary by age, per 1000 cover required. For example, for someone under 30, each 1000 of cover costs just 36p a year. For someone aged 51 it costs 1.92 and for some age 61 is Life Assurance for Spouse/Partner Associates can also take out Life Assurance secured against their spouse or partner. Cover is taken out in multiples of 25,000 up to 150,000. Rates differ from those above. Evidence of good health will be required and until this is established cover excludes any pre-existing conditions. Ultimately cover may be refused. Willis Salary Plus 11

12 HEALTH Dental Plan This benefit provides cover against the cost of certain types of Dental treatment. Benefits are provided through an insurance policy and you may choose the level of cover that is most appropriate for you. The five different plans give you a wide choice of treatment options. The options available are: Elementary Essential Essential Plus Extensive Extensive Plus provides a refund for NHS treatment covers Private treatment up to certain limits provides a higher level of Private cover for restorative treatments higher levels of cover for all Private treatments providing more comprehensive levels of restorative cover You can cover your family as well. Costs per month vary according to the level of cover and size of your family. For a single person choosing Essential Plus, the cost would be per month. For a family choosing Extensive Plus, the cost would be per month. PLEASE NOTE Not available in the Isle of Man 12 Willis Salary Plus

13 health/travel Critical Illness This benefit provides a tax-free cash sum if you are unexpectedly diagnosed as suffering from one of a range of serious specified medical conditions. You can select cover for yourself up to a maximum level of 250,000, in steps of 25,000 up to 100,000 or in steps of 50,000 above. The monthly cost for this benefit is a fixed amount for each 25,000 of cover you select. For someone under 30 it would cost 1.43 a month. For a 51 year old a month and for a 61 year old per month. You will not be covered for anything you are already suffering from. You can also cover your partner, up to the same level of cover as you choose for yourself. PLEASE NOTE Not available in the Isle of Man Bike to Work Bike to Work provides you with a bicycle of your choice to use when travelling to work. You choose the value of bicycle you would like and collect it from our partner, Halfords. The bicycle is owned by Willis, but it is yours to use as often as you like. To participate in Bike to Work you will be charged twelve interest free payments equal in total to the value of bike you selected. The payments are made from salary before tax and National Insurance, resulting in a saving of around 32% to 42%, depending on your tax position. In addition for the 2014/15 Scheme year, Halfords will apply a 7% discount on the hire cost. This is applied at the point that your salary sacrifice is calculated meaning you benefit from the 7 discount on every product you select. You will also benefit from a 15% discount on cycling accessories for the 12 months of your hire agreement. The arrangement lasts for one year. At the end of the twelve months Willis may choose to transfer the bike to your ownership, at its then market value providing the Associate meets modest additional tax requests made by HMRC. PLEASE NOTE Not available in the Isle of Man Only available at Annual Enrolment Willis Salary Plus 13

14 Leisure Childcare Vouchers The Salary Plus Scheme includes a Childcare Voucher option, which can help you with the cost of childcare. The childcare vouchers must be used towards the cost of a recognised form of childcare provided by a registered nursery, crèche, playgroup or similar. The provider must be registered with Ofsted, Nestor Sure Start, The Local Health and Social Services Trust (Northern Ireland), The Care Commission (Scotland) or The Care Standards Inspectorate (Wales). You can currently take up to 243 per month in vouchers if you are a lower rate tax payer, falling to 124 or 97 per month for higher or additional rate tax payers. These are currently exempt from tax and national insurance contributions. To take part in this scheme, you must be the parent or legal guardian of the child/children for which the vouchers are to be used. The child/children must be aged up to 15 (until 1st September following their 15th birthday) and or 16 in the case of children registered as disabled. IT S AS EASY AS A, B, C Willis Salary Plus

15 LEISURE Tastecard Tastecard is restaurant discount club that provides great savings to you and your family. Over 7,000 restaurants participate in the scheme. Some are famous chains, others are individual restaurants. All offer great deals for members typically 2 for 1(across all courses) or 50% off on food bills. Chains that participate include Gourmet Burger Kitchen, Ask, Zizzi, Pizza Express and 12 of the restaurants that collaborate with Marco Pierre White. You can join by agreeing to a single payment of 29.99, less than half the price normally charged to individuals. The cost will be deducted from your net pay in October as a single payment. Membership lasts a year. Tastecard is only available at the Annual Renewal of the Salary Plus Scheme, every 1 October. New entrants cannot take this benefit until the following 1 October. Employees receive complimentary access to tastecard+ (worth 24.99) includes discounted- Hotels, Fine Dining, Entertainment and Days Out. Note: most restaurants have restrictions, such as Friday and/or Saturday exclusions, limits on numbers or availability only to phone bookings. PLEASE NOTE Only available at Annual Enrolment Willis Salary Plus 15

16 LEISURE Wine Club Members of the Willis Wine Club receive one or more half cases of wine delivered direct to their your home address every month. Each half case contains 6 bottles, all handpicked by Laithwaite s award winning buying team. The Club is run by our partner Laithwaite s who select two different half cases each month, available in white, red or mixed cases. Each selection comes with its own detailed tasting notes, giving you the story behind each wine as well as food matching ideas to help you along your journey of discovery. You ll benefit from Laithwaite s expertise in supplying top quality wines which you can enjoy with friends and family as well as a significant discount available to Willis Associates. Plus, Laithwaite s offer a free bottle of sparkling wine with the your December case, just in time for Christmas! Membership options vary from 40 to per month. PLEASE NOTE The maximum number of cases allowed is 5 You must be 18 to choose this option You must have a UK address PUT A CORK IN IT Willis Salary Plus

17 leisure Retail Vouchers Purchasing Retail Vouchers through Salary Plus enables you to obtain a discount on the face value of vouchers for a number of high street retailers. So if you regularly spend money at certain stores this is a great way to save money, be it on your weekly shop or saving up for a special purchase. For 2014 all retailers now operate a card based system. There will be a minimum spend of 20 per retailer. In addition there will be a charge per retailer of 20p a month. So if you elect to take a Sainsbury s card, an Asda card and a John Lewis card the total charge will be 60p a month. The cards are similar to the gift cards many retailers offer, except that they are automatically reloadable. They are not credit cards. You can choose any value to be loaded up each month. You will be charged at the discounted rate for that retailer plus the delivery cost. The first month you place an order you will receive a gift card in the post in the ten working days following pay roll. This will then need to be authenticated and will then be reloadable. You should retain the card from month to month and treat it like cash. Each month the card will be topped up automatically and if you choose more than one retailer they will normally arrive separately Retailer Voucher Discount Sainsbury s 5% Asda 5% Marks & Spencer 6.5% John Lewis (includes Waitrose) 9% B&Q 8% Boots 6.5% GET SOME THERAPY...

18 FURTHER INFORMATION Tax and National Insurance The tax and national insurance position of each option is different. Taking some options will reduce your tax bill, taking some will reduce National Insurance and in some cases there are other benefits of the scheme. Here is a summary. Tax Efficient? NI Efficient? Other features Pension Yes Yes Medical Plan No Yes Additional Pension Yes Yes Additional Life Insurance Yes Yes Great Willis Rates Critical Illness No Yes Great Willis Rates Dental Plan No Yes Great Willis Rates Bike to Work Yes Yes Free Bike Care Plan Childcare Vouchers Yes Yes Wine Club No No Significant Discount Retail Vouchers No No Discounts Tastecard No No Discounts Treatment of benefits for Taxation and National Insurance purposes may be subject to immediate change without notice. Remember, this booklet only gives a very brief summary of what is on offer. If you have access to the Willis computer system, you must go on line to learn more about the options before making any decisions. If you do not have access to the system, contact the Salary Plus team to discuss the options you are interested in. Contact the team If you require further information, please contact the Salary Plus Team: SalaryPlus@willis.com tel: Willis Salary Plus

19 NOTES NOTES Use this page to make notes on the options you are interested in. Willis Salary Plus 19

20 Willis Limited The Willis Building 51 Lime Street London, EC3M 7DQ United Kingdom Tel: +44 (0) Willis Limited, Registered number: England and Wales. Registered address: 51 Lime Street, London, EC3M 7DQ. A Lloyd s Broker. Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority /08/14