Whilst estimates and statements issued by or on behalf of the Trustee are given in good faith and great care is taken in ensuring that they do not contain errors, neither the Trustee nor Mars accepts any responsibility for any inaccuracies or any adverse consequences you may suffer as a result. Any action taken in reliance on any statement or estimate issued to you must therefore be on the basis that you accept the risk that the estimate or statement is not correct. Associates are responsible for obtaining their own advice about the exercise of any rights or options under the Plans. Since the appropriate exercise of rights and options under the Plans will be affected by associates wider financial and domestic circumstances, advice should be sought from an Independent Financial Adviser. The provision of information by the Trustee or Mars should not be construed as advice since neither of them is in a position to provide advice which takes account of associates wider circumstances.

Frequently Asked Questions

Answers

Contributions

What do I pay?

ASP and AVCs:

You pay 6% of your pensionable pay as a basic contribution to the ASP. You will receive tax relief on your contributions which means that the difference to your take-home pay is less than 6%. You can also choose to pay additional voluntary contributions (AVCs) if you want to and these also receive tax relief. The company will match the first 6% of your AVCs pound for pound.

ARP

Membership of the ARP costs you nothing but you must be paying into the ASP to join.

MPP section of ARP

Membership of the MPP section of ARP costs you nothing as it is a non-contributory scheme (i.e. only the employer contributes to the plan). This pension Plan is now closed to new entrants.

Automatic Enrolment Section

The level of contributions made by both you and Mars to the Automatic Enrolment Section will gradually increase in line with legislation from 1 September 2013. The contribution levels are set out below:

Date	Your contribution (%of pensionable pay)	Mars contribution (%of pensionable pay)
Up to 5 April 2018	1%	2%
From 6 April 2018	3%	3%
From 6 April 2019	5%	4%

Transferring Benefits

Can I transfer my pension from a previous employer into the scheme?

ASP/Automatic Enrolment ASP: It may be possible to transfer benefits from a previous employer’s pension scheme or a personal pension into the ASP. If you want us to look into this for you, please contact the pensions helpline. The ASP is contracted in to the state second pension (S2P). This means that you cannot transfer any contracted out pension benefits into it.
ARP: You cannot transfer benefits into the ARP.
MPP/SPP: No transfers into the Plan or SPP are permitted.
VCS: It may be possible to transfer pension pots into the VCS at the Trustee’s discretion.

Can I transfer out my Mars pension benefits?

MPP/VCS/SPP: You may transfer your benefits to either a new employer’s scheme, an insurance company or to a Personal Pension. The Trustee will provide you with a statement of your cash equivalent transfer value, guaranteed for a limited period. The Trustee will ask you to complete a form of discharge before effecting the transfer or buy-out
ASP/ARP/AVCs: You can transfer your benefits to another registered pension arrangement. If it is possible to transfer your benefits in this way, the transfer value will be equal to the sum built up in the ASP and your AVCs allowing for investment returns plus the value of your ARP balance, that is your pay credits plus accrued ARP interest.; We will issue you with a transfer quotation but the actual amount of the transfer value will depend on investment returns and ARP interest to the date of the transfer. For members with service before 6 April 2016, the receiving arrangement will be required to confirm that they are able to accept the contracted-out liability contained within your ARP benefit.
Automatic Enrolment ASP: You can transfer your benefits to another registered pension arrangement. If it is possible to transfer your benefits in this way, the transfer will be equal to the sum built up in the ASP allowing for investment returns. We will issue you with a transfer quotation but the actual amount of the transfer value will depend on investment returns.

Part Time Service

How does part time work affect my pension benefits?: Members who move between part-time and full-time employment with Mars, or who are subject to flexible working hours under annualised hours contracts, will have their benefit under the Plan calculated as a proportion of the benefit that would have been payable had the member’s career been entirely full-time, but adjusted in proportion to hours worked, where these are less than the full-time contractual hours.; e.g. A part time member working 18.75 hours per week (50% of a 37.5 hour week) is entitled to half the pension a full time member on the same salary would receive.; Back to top

Financial Planning

Am I eligible to attend a Mars Benefits Education Programme

Only active associates are eligible to attend Mars Benefits Education Programme courses. Benefits training is available to you at different stages of your career at Mars.

The following courses are available:

Course	Eligibility
Benefits Induction	Associates should attend in their first year with the business
30 Year Service	MPP associates approaching 30 years’ service will be invited to book onto this course
Pre-Retirement	Associates, along with their partners, can attend this course once during their career. This will be of most benefit to associates when they are within 12 months of when they plan to retire.

If you wish to attend a Mars Benefits Education Programme course you can sign up through the Mars University – go to ‘Search’, then select ‘Advanced Search’ – in the table, enter your preferred site location from the Pick Location, ‘Mars Benefits Education Programme’ as Keyword and select ‘Instructor-Led’ in Delivery Type.

Where can I go for financial advice on my investments?: Mars Pension Trustees Limited is unable to provide financial advice, however if you wish to obtain financial advice to assist your financial planning please visit www.unbiased.co.uk.; Back to top

Annual Allowance & Lifetime Allowance

What is the Annual Allowance?: The Annual Allowance is the amount you can save into your pension annually and receive tax relief on. This allowance replaces all previous HM Revenue & Customs restrictions on contributions.; The Annual Allowance is measured over a yearly 'Pension Input Period'. For all registered pension arrangements this is the tax year 6 April to 5 April of the following year.; The Annual Allowance is currently £40,000.00 for most individuals. However, it can be less than £40,000.00 (and in some cases could be the minimum of £10,000.00 if your taxable income is above certain thresholds. If your pension savings exceed the Annual Allowance you will incur a tax charge at your marginal rate of income tax. You must declare all annual pension savings in your annual self-assessment tax return if you are over the relevant Annual Allowance.; If you are an active MPP member, the value of your pension will be calculated by multiplying the growth in your pension each year (in excess of inflation as measured by CPI), by a factor of 16 plus any VCS or SPP contributions. Note : CPI is the measure of inflation the Government will use to work out the amount of pension growth that does not count towards the Annual Allowance.; If you are an active ARP member, the value of your pension for the Annual Allowance is the increase in your ARP balance from 6 April to 5 April after allowing for inflation (as measured by CPI), plus any ASP and AVC contributions.; If you are making additional contributions either to the ASP, SPP, VCS or AVC to obtain the value of these contributions, it is simply the total amount that is paid in by you and the company between 6 April and 5 April each year. If you are contributing to ASP, SPP, VCS or AVCs and you believe your annual pension savings will exceed the Annual Allowance, you could stop or reduce these to stay within the Allowance limit or you may incur a tax charge.; Please note, you can carry forward any unused annual allowance for up to three years.; Back to top

What is the Lifetime Allowance?: The lifetime allowance is the maximum value of benefits you can receive from all registered pension schemes and receive tax relief on. The lifetime allowance covers not just your Mars pension but also any previous and future pensions from other employers and private arrangements.; The current lifetime allowance is £1 million (£1,000.000). You can earn pension benefits above the lifetime allowance but you will pay additional tax on the excess when these benefits start to be paid.; Your pension benefits will be tested against the lifetime allowance when they first come into payment.; Back to top

Opting Out

How do I opt out of the scheme?

VCS/SPP: You may cease contributing to the VCS/SPP at any time.
ASP/ARP/AVCs: You can opt out via the Plan status (Opt out of the Plan) link on the Change menu.; You should think carefully before opting out because you will need to make your own pension arrangements. You cannot benefit from any Company contributions or build up any benefits in the ARP if you have opted out of the ASP.
Automatic Enrolment ASP: If you have been automatically enrolled into the Automatic Enrolment Section, you can opt out within one month of the date that you were automatically enrolled into it. If you opt-out within this month period, you will receive a full refund of your contributions (but not Mars' contributions). You will be treated as if you had never joined the Automatic Enrolment Section. You can opt out via the menu on ePA.; You can opt out after the one month period at any time and the options in the section below will apply.; If you decide to opt out, Mars will have to consider how the automatic enrolment legislation applied to you. Unless your circumstances have changed, you will be automatically enrolled again in the future. For more details, please contact Willis Towers Watson on 01737 273057. If you are automatically enrolled you will have the option to opt out again.

If I opt out, can I rejoin the Mars pension plans at a later date?

You will normally be able to rejoin the plans in the future, provided you are still an associate on a Company payroll. Your employer and the Trustee may set special conditions for you to meet. If you wish to rejoin, you must apply to the Trustee in writing. You can use the Joining Form for this. Please note that if you are a member of the Automatic Enrolment ASP, you are able to opt out and enrol into the ARP section.

Leaving Mars

What happens if I leave?

ASP and AVCs and Automatic Enrolment ASP:

With 30 days or less pensionable service

You can ask the Trustee to return your contributions to you. (This includes all your contributions to the ASP and your AVCs less tax.) Alternatively, you can leave your benefits in the plans or you can transfer to another registered pension arrangement

You can leave your benefits invested through the plans:

At any time from age 55 (or 50 as determined by the earliest retirement age in the Finance Act 2004 and Pensions Act 2004), you can use your ASP amount and AVCs to buy retirement benefits
If you die before retiring, the sum built up in the ASP and your AVCs will provide benefits for your dependants

You can transfer your benefits to another pension arrangement:

The transfer value will be equal to the sum built up in the ASP and your AVCs allowing for the investment returns to the date of the transfer

With 30 days or less pensionable service

transfer the invested value of yours and Mars' contributions to another registered pension plan: or
retain the invested value of yours and Mars' contributions in the ASP.

ARP:

With less than 3 months pensionable service

There would be no benefit for you within the ARP

Between 3 months and 2 years pensionable service

If you do not transfer your benefits to another pension arrangement within 6 months of your date of leaving, there would be no further benefits from the ARP. If you have any contracted-out service before 6 April 2016, the Trustee will pay a premium to reinstate your state scheme benefits.

More than 2 years pensionable service

If you leave your benefits in the plan, your ARP balance will:

Build up ARP interest until you retire
Provide benefits for your dependants if you die before retiring

If you transfer your benefits to another pension arrangement:

The other arrangement must be contracted out
The transfer value will be equal to your pay credits plus accrued ARP interest

MPP

If you choose to leave the benefits in the Plan you will receive a pension payable from Normal Pension Age. This will be calculated under the Plan in the same way as if you had retired at Normal Pension Age, but based on your Annual Earnings and Length of Pensionable Service when you left Mars

VCS/SPP

Although your contributions have ceased, your fund will benefit from increases until retirement

Retirement

When can I retire?

Normal pension age for all the Plans is 60. But the pension plans give you flexibility to plan a different retirement date either earlier or later. You can take your benefits at any time from age 50 if you retire from active service, provided you were a member of the Plans before 5^th April 2006. If you joined the Plans after 5^th April 2006 and are not 50 by the 5^th April 2010, then the earliest date at which you become eligible to draw benefits will be 55 years old. Provided you and the Company agree, you can carry on working and contributing to the plans past 60. In any event, you must take your benefits before you reach age 75.

What are my choices at retirement?

MPP/VCS/SPP

When you retire you can take the benefit as follows:

Take a cash lump sum. This is currently tax free, subject to a check against HM Revenue & Customs limits.
Draw a pension with the remaining benefit.

ASP and AVCs and Automatic Enrolment ASP

The money you have built up in the ASP/AVCs buys a package of benefits. You can use the amount available to:

Take a cash lump sum up to the HM Revenue & Customs limit. This is currently paid free of tax. The limits apply to the total cash you may receive from the ASP, AVCs and ARP.
Use the remaining funds to buy a pension from an insurance company (an annuity) which may or may not:
- Include increases in line with the Retail Prices Index (RPI)
- Continue to be paid to another individual who was dependent on you in the event of your death (a joint life annuity)
- Continue to be paid at the same rate for a period of time after your death (a guarantee period)
Transfer the funds built up out of the Mars Plan to provide benefits from another pension provider. Different pension providers may offer different options for what you can do with your funds. They may also feature different rates of payment, charges and tax implications. If you would like further information, please visit http://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk

You can transfer your AVC, ASP and ARP separately from each other, leaving any benefits you do not want to transfer in the Mars Plans. The Government now permits you to transfer ‘Flexible Benefits’ at any time before you use them in most circumstances.

Use funds built up through the ASP and AVC to take a cash lump sum, paid in one go directly out of the chosen Mars Plan. This is called an Uncrystallised Funds Pension Lump Sums (‘UFPLS’). 25% of the fund is currently paid free of tax, with the remaining 75% taxed at your highest marginal rate of income tax. Under this option no further benefits would be payable to you once the payment has been made.

The ‘UFPLS’ option is not available for funds built up through the ARP.

ARP

The Trustee uses your ARP balance to provide your retirement benefits from the ARP. You may usually receive:

A cash sum of up to 25% of your ARP balance provided the amount is within the HM Revenue & Customs limit. This is currently paid free of tax.
A pension, which the Trustee provides using the remainder of your ARP balance. As the ARP was contracted out of the second state pension up until 5 April 2016, some or all of your ARP balance must buy certain types of benefit. The rules of the ARP set out the benefits, including pension for yourself and for your husband or wife after your death.
Use the funds in the ARP to purchase an annuity on the open market, with the consent of the Trustees.

Where can I find the latest Mars annuity rates?

The annuity rates, which are reviewed on a quarterly basis, are published on the associate notice boards. Deferred members receive notification of any annuity rate changes. External annuities are also available from Hargreaves Lansdown.

How much tax free cash will I be able to take?

As a rule of thumb, you are able to take 25% of the total value of your pension pots subject to overall monetary limits set by HMRC.

How can I claim my benefits at retirement?

Actives: Once you have notified your department of your intention to retire, you will be invited to attend a one to one to discuss your final pension estimate as well as your retirement options. Following the one to one, you will be asked to complete a retirement choices form and submit your birth and marriage certificates, where applicable. This will trigger the final retirement process and your benefits will be paid to you within 12 weeks of the retirement date
Deferreds: You should contact Mars Pension Trustees Ltd three months before your intended retirement date. Once you have notified the department of your retirement, you will receive a quote of your estimated benefits at your elected date of retirement. Upon receipt of the quote, you will be asked to complete a retirement choices form and submit your birth and marriage certificates, where applicable. This will trigger the final retirement process and your benefits will be paid to you within 12 weeks after the retirement date.

When will I receive my first pension payment and/or lump sum?

Due to the disinvestment process, it is not possible to obtain final fund values until you have reached the date of your retirement. As a result, you will receive your pension and lump sum within 2 to 3 months after retirement. Any pension payments will be backdated to the date of retirement, where necessary.

It is important to provide all the requested information (e.g. birth certificates, bank account details & retirement choices form) at least 2 months before your retirement date. If there is a delay in providing information to the pension team, there is a risk that you will lose the benefit of a tax free lump sum. HMRC requires that lump sums are paid within three months of the retirement date, otherwise a tax charge will be applied.

Death

What benefits are payable if I die?

In Service with the Company

MPP

If you die in service your widow(er) will receive a pension for life of 30% of your Annual Earnings at the date of death. Your children (a maximum of two at any one time) will each receive a pension of 15% of your Annual Earnings, at the date of your death. Your child's pension will continue until the child is aged 18, or 22 if they remain in full-time education or training.

Life assurance will also be payable in the form of a lump sum equal to three times your Annual Earnings. This is paid at the discretion of the Trustee, but they will take your wishes into account. You should make sure you keep your ‘Nomination of Beneficiaries’ up to date.

ARP/ASP

If you die in service with the Company whether or not you have chosen to be a member of the ARP, the Trustee of the ARP will pay a cash sum. This will be equivalent to three times the pensionable pay you have received in the 52 weeks up to your death. This is paid at the discretion of the Trustee, but they will take your wishes into account. You should make sure you keep your ‘Nomination of Beneficiaries’ up to date.

ASP and AVCs and Automatic Enrolment ASP

If you die in service with the Company while you are a member of the ASP, the Trustee will pay the value built up by your own contributions to the ASP, your AVCs and the Company's contributions to the ASP. The Trustee can pay this as a cash sum or dependant's pension up to the limits set by the HM Revenue and Customs. This is paid at the discretion of the Trustee, but they will take your wishes into account. You should make sure you keep your ‘Nomination of Beneficiaries’ up to date. Under current tax law, cash sum payments after your death are normally free of tax.

ARP

If you are building up pension credits in the ARP, the Trustee may also pay a pension for your spouse and children. These pensions are equal to the greater of:

A dependant's pension of 30% of your pensionable pay plus pensions for up to two children, each equal to half of the dependant's pension. Your pensionable pay in this case is worked out over the 52 weeks leading up to the date you die; or
The pension that your ARP balance can provide. This depends on the balance you have built up and on the age of your dependant.

After Leaving

ASP and AVCs and Automatic Enrolment ASP: If you die before reaching Normal Pension Age, the Trustee will refund the value built up by your own contributions to the ASP and your AVCs. Your dependants will receive the value built up by the Company’s contributions to the ASP. The Trustee can pay this as a cash sum or dependant’s pension up to the limits set by the Inland Revenue. This is paid at the discretion of the Trustee, but they will take your wishes into account. You should make sure you keep your ‘Nomination of Beneficiaries’ up to date.
ARP: If you die before reaching Normal Pension Age, the Trustee will use the value of your ARP balance to provide pension and cash benefits according to your circumstances and contracting out law. We will give you further details if you leave.; Under current tax law, cash sum payments after your death are normally free of tax

Why do I need to complete a Nomination of Beneficiaries form?

The Trustee decides at its discretion who receives any cash sum payable if you die. The discretionary nature means that the payments are normally free of inheritance tax.

You can help the Trustee in making its decision by completing a nomination form. This tells the Trustee who you would like to receive this benefit. This will normally be your partner or close family, although you are free to nominate other people or organisations if you want to. The Trustee is not legally bound to follow your wishes.

You should update the nomination form on a regular basis. This is particularly important if your personal circumstances change, for example if you marry or divorce, or if someone you have named dies.

You can complete a Nomination of Beneficiaries form online by logging into ePA and going to the "My Nomination" tab. Please note that you need to complete a Nomination Form for each record you hold.

Contact us

Who should I contact about my Mars Pension Plan benefits?: If you require further information about your Mars Pension Plan benefits, please contact the Mars UK Pension Administration Team:
Mars UK Pension Administration Team
Willis Towers Watson
PO Box 545
Redhill
RH1 1YX
Tel: 01737 273057
Email: mymarsfunds@willistowerswatson.com
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Frequently Asked Questions

Contributions

Transferring Benefits

Part Time Service

Financial Planning

Annual Allowance & Lifetime Allowance

Opting Out

Leaving Mars

Retirement

Death

Contact Us

Answers

Contributions

Transferring Benefits

Part Time Service

Financial Planning

Annual Allowance & Lifetime Allowance

Opting Out

Leaving Mars

Retirement

Death

Contact us

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