PaySmart making your money work harder These days, it s likely that we ll spend one third of our adult lives in retirement. This makes your MMC UK pension arrangement one of the most important benefits you have. But living longer in retirement makes it even more important that we set aside money now for our future. So, we re pleased to provide you with PaySmart a way of lessening the impact that saving for retirement has on your take home pay. PaySmart allows you to have your share of the cost of your pension benefits met by giving up part of your salary via Options, the Company s Flexible Benefits Plan. Under PaySmart you will earn less but get paid more. For new joiners, PaySmart will be the default choice in Options Online for members of both the MMC UK Pension Fund and the MMC UK Pension Savings Plan. For existing members, the default choice in Options Online will be the decision you made during the last enrolment.
How does PaySmart work? Both you and the Company pay into the MMC UK pension arrangements either the MMC UK Pension Fund or the MMC UK Pension Savings Plan. You receive tax relief on your contributions at the highest rate to which you are liable. However, National Insurance Contributions (NICs) are normally calculated using all of your earnings in excess of the Earnings Threshold ( 5,460 p.a. for 2008/2009) even the part that you pay into your pension. PaySmart is a way of retaining the saving from tax relief and also paying lower NICs. The amount of money being paid into your pension does not change and your pension benefits are unaffected. Here is how it works: Through Options you agree to give up part of your salary equivalent to the contribution you would have paid toward your pension. Your gross pay reduces. At the same time you stop paying contributions toward your pension and your net pay rises by the amount of the NICs you would have paid on your higher gross salary. The Company increases its contributions toward your pension by the amount you would have paid in so that the total contribution paid is unchanged. Your Base Salary, before the salary adjustment for PaySmart and your other Options choices, will continue to be used for the calculation of your pension contributions, death benefits, Defined Benefit pension benefits and all other contractual benefits provided by the Company (but not State benefits). Your Base Salary will be reviewed annually in the normal way. Show me the money To give you an idea of the potential increase in your annual take home pay with PaySmart, we have shown some examples, based on a range of salaries and contribution rates, in the tables and examples shown opposite. The amount you save will depend on whether you are in the Defined Benefit section of the MMC UK Pension Fund (broadly employees who are aged 30 or over) or in the MMC UK Pension Savings Plan, a defined contribution arrangement (broadly employees who are aged less than 30). page 2
MMC UK Pension Fund Annual Increase in Net Pay through PaySmart Contribution rate Base Salary 15,000 25,000 30,000 50,000 5% 48.50 95.50 119.00 22.66 7.5% 72.76 143.26 178.51 33.99 9.5% 92.16 181.46 226.11 43.05 All figures in the table and the worked examples are based on tax and NICs rates for the tax year 2008/2009. Example Below we ve worked out an example based on a member with a salary of 25,000, currently paying the normal contribution of 5% of Pensionable Salary for the core Benefit Accrual Rate of 1/60th. Before selecting PaySmart Base Salary 25,000.00-1,016.00* Tax - 3,793.00 Tax Relief + 203.20 NICs - 1,824.28 Total Pay 25,000.00 Total Deductions - 6,430.08 18,569.92 After selecting PaySmart Base Salary 25,000.00 Tax - 3,589.80 Tax Relief 0 PaySmart Adjustment - 1,016.00 NICs - 1,728.78 Total Pay 23,984.00 Total Deductions - 5,318.58 18,665.42 Net increase in annual take home pay 95.50 * Pension contributions are based on Pensionable Salary which is your Base Salary less the Lower Earnings Limit ( 4,680 per year in the 2008/2009 tax year). If you earn above the Upper Earnings Limit ( 40,040 in the 2008/2009 tax year) there is still a saving to be made through PaySmart although it will be smaller, as you pay NICs at the rate of 1% on earnings above this level. However, using PaySmart will help the Company control operational costs, as the Company will also pay a lower level of NICs. page 3
MMC UK Pension Savings Plan Annual Increase in Net Pay through PaySmart Contribution rate Base Salary 15,000 25,000 30,000 50,000 2% 22.70 44.70 55.70 9.06 3% 34.06 67.06 83.56 13.60 4% 45.51 89.41 111.41 18.13 5% 56.76 111.76 139.26 22.66 All figures in the table and the worked examples are based on tax and NICs rates for the tax year 2008/2009. Example Below we ve worked out an example based on a member with a salary of 25,000, currently paying contributions of 3%. Before selecting PaySmart Base Salary 25,000.00-609.60* Tax - 3,793.00 Tax Relief + 121.92 NICs - 2,149.40 Total Pay 25,000.00 Total Deductions - 6,430.08 18,569.92 After selecting PaySmart Base Salary 25,000.00 Tax - 3,671.08 Tax Relief 0 PaySmart Adjustment - 609.60 NICs - 2,082.34 Total Pay 24,390.40 Total Deductions - 5,753.42 18,636.98 Net increase in annual take home pay 67.06 * Pension contributions are based on Pensionable Salary which is your Base Salary less the Lower Earnings Limit ( 4,680 per year in the 2008/2009 tax year). If you earn above the Upper Earnings Limit ( 40,040 in the 2007/2008 tax year) there is still a saving to be made through PaySmart although it will be smaller, as you pay NICs at the rate of 1% on earnings above this level. However, using PaySmart will help the Company control operational costs, as the Company will also pay a lower level of NICs. page 4
Who is eligible? PaySmart is open to all contributing members of the MMC UK Pension Fund and the MMC UK Pension Savings Plan who are eligible to participate in Options, except where the PaySmart salary adjustment together with their other Options selections would take earnings below 10,500 a year (or the part-time equivalent) to ensure earnings do not fall below the National Minimum Wage. If this applies to you, the default will be PayDirect and you will not be able to select PaySmart in Options Online. We will identify and contact the affected members separately. How much salary can I give up? If you confirm the PaySmart option you will give up salary equal to the DB contributions required for the Benefit Accrual Rate you select under Options or the DC contribution rate you choose. If you are a DB member and you choose the core Benefit Accrual Rate of 1/60th the contribution would be 5% of Pensionable Salary. If you choose a different Benefit Accrual Rate the contribution will vary depending on your age and the Benefit Accrual Rate you choose. Money Purchase Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs) are not included in the PaySmart option. Where s the catch? There are no catches to PaySmart. It really is a win/win situation for you and the Company. However, as with all things financial, there are one or two points you need to bear in mind. If your circumstances change By confirming PaySmart and agreeing to give up part of your salary under Options, you are agreeing to a change in your contractual terms and conditions. You will not normally be able to change your decision during the Options year, but the Company will exercise discretion to allow a change if your State benefits would be adversely affected by your earlier choice (see below for information on State benefits). Your pension benefits Your pension benefits will not be affected by the salary adjustment for PaySmart. Your Base Salary, before the salary adjustment for PaySmart and your other Options choices, will continue to be used to calculate your pension contributions, death benefits and Defined Benefit pension benefits, together with all other salary related benefits payable by the Company. Your Base Salary will also be the salary used for pay review purposes. State benefits The eligibility requirements for PaySmart mean that, in most circumstances, your entitlement to State benefits will not be affected. However, your State Second Pension (S2P) benefits could be affected as follows. MMC UK Pension Fund members: Although as a member of the DB section of the Fund you are in contracted-out employment, you are still building up some S2P entitlement on earnings up to the Upper Earnings Threshold ( 31,100 in the 2008/2009 tax year). Because of the way this part of S2P is calculated, DB members are either unaffected or will benefit from a modest increase in their S2P entitlement, as a result of the salary adjustment for PaySmart. MMC UK Pension Savings Plan members: As you are in a pension plan that is not contracted out of S2P, paying lower NICs may have a negative impact on your S2P entitlement. Any reduction in pay between 13,500 p.a. and 40,040 p.a. (in the 2008/2009 tax year) may reduce the amount of S2P you could receive. However, the increase in take home pay under PaySmart, based on conservative assumptions, is larger than the value of the S2P reduction for the vast majority of members. The size of the reduction in S2P is quite small. If you would rather increase your take home pay from the NICs saving, then PaySmart works for you. If you are concerned about your eventual pension, then paying AVCs of the amount of your NICs saving is likely to be sufficient to replace any reduction in your S2P entitlement. We have undertaken an analysis to identify any current members who may not benefit from PaySmart. These members are being contacted individually. This analysis has been made using historical earnings data. The value of any S2P reduction, and the potential to replace it by making AVCs, is dependent on factors such as future earnings and investment performance. If you would like to look at this issue more closely, the PaySmart website will show you how it works; you can see the website at www.pensions.uk.mmc.com/paysmart_mercer/paysmart_mercer_home.html. More information about State benefits entitlements can be found at http://www.dwp.gov.uk/lifeevent/ benefits/index.asp#m page 5
Loans and mortgages As now, reference letters provided for the purposes of mortgages or loans will refer to your Base Salary. What do I need to do? Although we believe PaySmart will benefit all eligible members as well as the Company, the choice is yours. The default option is your last recorded decision. If you wish to change your decision from last year, you will need to log on to Options Online, visit the Pension page and click on the PayDirect or PaySmart button as appropriate. You will be able to review your decision each year as part of the Options Online annual enrolment. Further information In the meantime if you have any questions not covered in this announcement, you can email your question to: mmcpensions@mercer.com. January 2009 Designed & produced by Mercer Limited 8518_Mercer_09