User Guide
The guide explains how to get the most out of the self-service site. It also contains more information about the different topics.
Wherever you are in the site, you can go directly to the relevant section of this user guide by clicking on the 'What's this' button at the top right of the screen.
Contents
- Getting around the site
- Speed of the site - What you should expect
- Tutorials
- Change password
- Feedback
- Current balance
- Investment decisions
- Contribution decisions
- Transaction history
- Unit price graph
- Quotations
- Personal details
- Address
- Death benefit nominations
- Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs)
- Salary details
- Transfers in to the scheme
- Benefits in other schemes
- Augmentation details
- Membership History
- Preserved benefit details
- Preserved benefit history
- Initial pension information
- Pension payment and tax details
- Pension payment tax year summary
- Update pension payment method
Getting around the site (On-line tutorial available)
You can move from page to page using the simple menu structure.
The left hand side of the site contains options to help you such as tutorials, feedback and this user guide.
The main section contains a menu bar to allow you to move through your information quickly and easily. The menu bar is always available to you, whatever page you're on.
To get to another page, you need to click on the option you want (Show me my…, I want to update my… or Give me a quotation for…). Choose the item you want from the list that appears underneath.
- Show me my…
- If you choose this heading, a list of options will appear, allowing you to see the pension information that we hold for you.
- I want to update my…
- If you choose this heading, you will see a number of options that will let you update your records or get in touch with us.
- The options available to you will depend on the scheme you are in and whether you are a current employee, a former employee with preserved benefits or a pensioner.
- Give me a quotation for…
- If you choose this heading you will need to select from the options that are available. These may include an estimate of your benefits at retirement age and others depending on your scheme.
- For each option the system will direct you through the calculation process and present you with the results.
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Speed of the site - What you should expect
- As with all internet based systems the speed of ePA will depend on the speed of your connection to the internet. In addition, some of the processes and transactions that can be performed take longer than others.
- This section of the User Guide outlines approximate timings for the different ePA screens.
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Connection type
56K Modem connected at optimum speed - Most options should display within 20 to 30 seconds.
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The following screens take longer;
- Current Balance - the results should display within 30 to 40 seconds
- Run a quotation - the speed of quotations will vary from quotation to quotation
- Switching your existing assets - the estimated results screen should display within 30 to 40 seconds.
- Tutorials - these are large files and should load within 2 minutes
- Broadband or connection from your place of work
- You should expect information on most options to display within 5 to 10 seconds.
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The following screens take longer;
- Current Balance - the results should display within 10 to 20 seconds
- Run a quotation - the speed of quotations will vary from quotation to quotation
- Switching your existing assets - the estimated results screen should display within 20 to 30 seconds.
- Tutorials - these should load within 10 to 20 seconds
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Personal details
- View
- This page shows you the key information held on our administration system that allows us to work out your benefits.
- It is very important that this information is accurate and up to date. If you feel that any of this information is not correct, you may be able to update it yourself. If this is not possible, you should contact us using the feedback option.
- Update
- This page shows you any information about you or your pension that you can update yourself. All you need to do is follow the on-screen instructions.
- The changes you can make depend on the scheme you are in and in some cases this option will not be available.
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Address/contact information
- View
- The address page lets you view the address that we hold for you. Please note: we may not hold addresses for some current members - the Human Resources (HR) department may have these instead.
- If you are a former employee with preserved benefits it is important that you keep us informed of any changes in your address so that we can advise you when your benefits become due. You can do this by using the update or feedback options.
- Update address/contact information
- You can update your pension record directly using this screen. You just need to enter the information required and press Submit.
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Death benefit nomination information
If you die in service, certain death benefits will become payable. So that the trustees of the scheme can take your wishes into account, you should make sure you fill in a Nomination form. It is very important to keep your wishes up to date.
Although the trustees will take your wishes into account, the trustees are not bound by them.
- View
- This screen shows a summary of the latest Nomination request details you have made. The first summary screen shows the breakdown of the % of lump sum benefits (Lump sum %) and the % of pension benefits (Pension %) for each nominee.
- If you click on the surname of a nominee, you can see more detailed information about the record stored. The nominee's sex, date of birth and address information is not essential, so there is no need to contact us if this is not shown on your record.
- Update
- If you want to update the information, you may be able to do this using the 'I want to update my…Nomination details' option. If this option is not available to you, please contact us using the feedback form.
- Where the option is available to update this information directly, please follow the following instructions;
- The initial screen displayed allows you to enter the details of the first person you would like to nominate. Fill in the information requested and click on Add Details.
- Repeat this process until the total of the nominations you have made adds up to 100% for both your lump sum and pension benefits.
- When this condition has been met, you will see a Submit button on the nomination summary. To update your nomination request, press the Submit button.
- If the changes are made successfully, you will receive a confirmation message on screen. You can also see that the changes have been applied by going to the Show me my…Nomination details screen.
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- Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs)
- If you are paying AVCs, you can click on this option to see the information shown on our records.
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The information shows for each of your AVC policies:
- the date you started paying AVCs
- the date you stopped paying AVCs
- the amount a year or percentage of salary you are paying
- the policy number or roll number the AVC provider holds.
- You can instruct us to change the amount you are paying. You can also request to stop paying AVCs by selecting the feedback option and confirming the changes needed.
- If you are not paying AVCs but would like to start, you can ask for the necessary information from us by choosing the feedback option.
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- Salary details
- This page shows a history of your salary details held on our records.
- For definitions of the various salary and earnings figures, please refer to your scheme handbook.
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Transfers in to the scheme
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If you have transferred benefits from a previous employer or a
personal pension into the scheme, then this page shows summary
information about any transfers in you have made. The extra benefits
in the scheme can be:
- an extra pension
- extra pensionable service, or
- a payment into your pension account.
- It is possible that there may be two entries for a transfer from one scheme. This is because we need to be able to identify separately the benefits that relate to service before and after 6 April 1997.
- If you have benefits in other pension schemes and would like to look at transferring them into the scheme, you can contact us using the feedback option. Please include the name of the scheme, the date you left and the contact address for the scheme administrator.
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Benefits in other schemes
- You should tell us about benefits you have in other pension schemes. (These benefits are sometimes referred to as 'retained benefits'). We may need this information to make sure your benefits are not higher than the maximum limits set by the Inland Revenue.
- This page shows the retained benefits information that is held for you at present. If you have benefits that are not shown, please let us know.
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Augmentation details
- Some members are entitled to extra benefits in the scheme that are not part of the normal benefits provided by the scheme. The trustees may give these as a result of service with a previous employer or as a result of being granted special additional benefits by the trustees.
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You will find that the additional benefits can be in the form of:
- a pension
- extra pensionable service, or
- a payment into your pension account.
- This page shows any extra benefits of this type that you are entitled to.
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Membership History
- This page shows the history of any changes in your membership category whilst you have been in the scheme.
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Current balance
- If you are a member of a defined contribution scheme or pay certain types of Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs) this page will show you a valuation of your benefits.
- This page shows you the total value of your pension account, based on the latest unit price available. It is broken down so that you can see the value of your account in each fund that you invest in. If you want to see the breakdown in a pie chart, clickon the View Pie Chart option.
- There are other options that let you see the breakdown by contribution type or by currency. More information about these options is shown below.
- Current balance split by investment fund
- This is the breakdown that is displayed at first and shows you detailed information about each fund you have invested in. Click on the 'View Pie Chart' option to see the breakdown pictorially.
- Current balance split by contribution type
- This option shows you detailed information for each type of contribution paid into your account. For example you might want to see the current value of your own contributions separated from the value of your employer's contributions. Click on the 'View Pie Chart' option to see the breakdown pictorially.
- Current balance split by currency
- This option lets you see how your fund is split between different currencies. You can click on a currency to see a breakdown of the investment funds that make up the value for that currency.
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View Investment decisions
- Summary page
- This page shows you the investment decision in place for each of your contribution types.
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Select a contribution type by clicking on the
to see how it is being invested.
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- Change investment decisions (A tutorial is available by clicking on the link on the ePA left hand menu)
- If this option is available to you, you may be able to change the funds that your future contributions will be invested in, change your target retirement age or switch your current funds.
- The options available to you will depend on the scheme you are in and you should follow the on-screen instructions to change your investment decisions.
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- Investment decision options available
- This page shows you the options that are available to you. These will depend on the rules of the scheme you are in and your current fund choices
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- Change your target retirement date/age
- This page gives you the option to amend your target retirement age for investment purposes.
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- Current assets split by fund
- This page shows how your current portfolio is made up. Note: For more information on your current portfolio please use the Show me my…Current Balance option.
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- Switch options available
- This page shows you the switch options available to you. These will vary depending on what the scheme rules allow.
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- Choose which funds you want to sell
- This page allows you to choose the investment funds that you want to sell from.
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- Choose which funds you want to invest in
- This page lets you select the fund(s) you want to invest in. When you click on the arrow to the right of the select box a list will appear showing you all the funds available to you. For each fund you select you need to input the percentage(%) of the contributions you want to be paid into that fund. You must remember that the total for the funds you choose must equal 100%.
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- Estimate of fund switch
- This page shows an estimate of the fund switch should you continue with the switch request.
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- Current investment decisions summary - Future contributions
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This page summarises the current investment decisions in place and if
you have edited your fund choices the revised choices will be shown
here prior to authorisation. To view or change a decision, click on
the icon on the right hand side. A
signifies that the decision can be
changed whereas a
means the scheme rules do not allow you to change the decision at
this time.
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- Current investment decisions detail - Future contributions
- This page shows your current investment decisions (or if you have edited your choices, your revised investment decisions) for the contribution selected.
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- Investment decision selection - Future contributions
- This page lets you choose whether you want to invest your contributions in a personal fund choice or whether you want to follow a scheme investment strategy. If you select a personal fund choice, you will need to select the funds you want these contributions paid into. If you select a scheme investment strategy your contributions will be invested in the funds selected for that investment strategy and will be moved to funds aimed at reflecting the cost of providing your retirement benefits as you near retirement.
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- Investment Strategy
- This page lets you choose from the scheme investment strategies available. You need to select the investment strategy and you can select a target retirement date. If you leave the target retirement date unchanged, this will be set to the scheme’s normal retirement date. If you input a target retirement date or age, the investment strategy will treat this as your retirement date and will move your contributions into funds aimed at reflecting the cost of providing your retirement benefits as you near this date.
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- Copying investment decisions
- The investment choice you have just made for some of your contributions can be copied to your other contributions. You need to decide which, if any, of the other contributions you want to have this investment choice and tick the appropriate box. If you do not want to copy this investment choice to other contributions you should not tick any boxes but confirm your choices.
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- Personal investment choice
- This page lets you select the fund(s) you want these contributions to be invested in. When you click on the arrow to the right of the select box a list will appear showing you all the funds available to you. For each fund you select you need to input the percentage(%) of the contributions you want to be paid into that fund. You must remember that the total for the funds you choose must equal 100%.
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- Authorisation to proceed
- This page asks you to authorise the choices you have made. It is your formal request to the Trustees to make the changes. By pressing ‘Authorise’ on this page you are confirming your decisions. You will not be asked to re-confirm your choices after this page. If you do not want to change your investment decisions do not press ‘Authorise’.
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- Confirmation
- This page confirms that the process is complete.
- End of Update Investment decisions section
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- View Contribution history
- This page shows the contribution rates that have been paid to the scheme.
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- Changing your Contribution decisions
- This feature lets you change the rate of contributions that are paid into the scheme.
- Introduction
- This page contains important information that you must read and agree to before you proceed.
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Contribution decision - Contribution rate summary
- This page shows the contributions that are currently being paid to the scheme. You need to review the contribution rates shown on this page and amend those you want to, where you can.
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Contribution decision - Choose/display contribution rate
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If this is a view only page () you cannot change the information and
this page will simply be confirmation of the amount that will be
paid. If this is a page you can amend () you can choose the contribution rate
you want to apply. There will be a list to pick from or a box to fill
in.
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Contribution decision - Investment choices summary
- This page shows what options are available for your investment choices and whether or not you have specified your choice of investment funds. Where an investment choice has been made a tick will show in the ‘Fund Choice Specified’ column. If no investment choice has been made, you should complete this now.
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Contribution decision - Investment choice selection
- This page lets you choose whether you want to invest your contributions in a personal fund choice or whether you want to follow a scheme investment strategy. If you select a personal fund choice, you will need to select the specific funds you want these contributions paid into. If you select a scheme investment strategy your contributions will be invested in the funds selected for that investment profile and will be moved into historically safer funds as you near retirement.
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Contribution decision - Copying investment choices
- The investment choice you have just made for some of your contributions can be copied to your other contributions. You need to decide which, if any, of the other contributions you want to have this investment choice and tick the appropriate box. If you do not want to copy this investment choice to other contributions you should not tick any boxes but confirm your choices.
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Contribution decision - Investment Strategy
- This page lets you choose from the scheme investment strategies available. You need to select the investment strategy and you can select a target retirement date. If you leave the target retirement date blank, this will be set to the scheme’s normal retirement date. If you input a target retirement date or age, the investment strategy profile will treat this as your retirement date and will move your contributions into historically safer funds as you near this date.
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Contribution decision - Personal investment choice
- This page lets you select the fund(s) you want these contributions to be invested in. When you click on the arrow to the right of the select box a list will appear showing you all the funds available to you. For each fund you select you need to input the percentage (% ) of the contributions you want to be paid into that fund. You must remember that the total for the funds you choose must equal 100%.
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Contribution decision - Summary of the options selected
- This page shows a summary of the contribution and investment choices you have made. It is recommended that you print a copy of this page (by clicking on ‘Print Summary’) to provide a full copy of your choices for your records.
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Contribution decision - Authorisation to proceed
- This page asks you to authorise the choices you have made. By pressing ‘Authorise’ on this page you are confirming your decisions and agreeing to the terms set out at the beginning of the process. You will not be asked to re-confirm your choices after this screen. If you do not want to make the changes, do not press ‘Authorise’.
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Confirmation
- This page confirms that the process is complete.
- End of maintain contribution decisions section.
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Transaction history
- This section is made up of a number of pages which set out the financial transactions that have taken place in your account.
- Using the transaction history, you can see every payment that has been made into your account and see how the money was invested. It also shows changes in investments that have taken place, such as switches between investment funds.
- Please note that the transactions are only displayed here once they have been completed by our administration team.
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Unit Price Graph - Selections
- You need to select which funds you want to see on the unit price graph and the start and end date you want the graph to cover. The start and end date will currently show the last twelve months but you can change these if you want to. If you select ‘All Available Funds’ this will show you the unit price movements and the unit price graph for all the funds you currently have assets in, and all the funds you could invest in instead of, or as well as, your current selection. If you select ‘Current Investment’ this will show you the unit price movements and the unit price graph for all the funds you currently have assets in. This will not take account of any transactions (for example, switches) that are still in progress. If you select ‘Selected Funds’ you need to choose the funds you want to see the details for from the list shown. This list includes all the funds our records show you currently have assets in and all the funds you could invest in instead of, or as well as, yourcurrent selection.
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Unit Price Graph - Results
- The unit price and exchange rate information held on our systems has been provided by third party fund managers. Unit prices and exchange rates vary on a very frequent basis and can fluctuate greatly. The price and currency data on this site may not be fully up to date and therefore cannot be guaranteed. Unit price and currency information on this site is provided for information purposes only and should not be relied on by you as the basis of any decision to enter into any financial transactions and must not be used in place of professional advice. Neither Towers Watson, the Company nor the Trustees accept any responsibility for inaccurate unit price, exchange rate or fund value information provided by a third party. Past performance of funds is no guarantee of future returns. The value of investments may go down as well as up. The ‘Period Start Date’ showing on this screen is the first date a unit price exists on this site on or after the start date you selected. The ‘Period End Date’ is the last date a unit price exists on this site on or before the end date you selected. The unit price is the data we hold for the date shown. The start and end dates shown on this screen may not be the same as to the dates you input. This may be because a date selected was on a weekend, or because unit prices are not held for this fund ona daily basis.
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Quotations (On-line tutorial available)
- This section enables you to run 'What if' quotations, so that you can see immediately the benefits that might be provided by the scheme in certain circumstances.
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The options available will depend on the scheme you are in. They may
include quotations such as:
- benefit summaries
- retirement estimates
- transfer value quotations
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Preserved benefit details
- This page shows the detail of the preserved benefits you have in the scheme.
- The layout of the screen will vary depending on the scheme you are in, so please refer to the on screen text or your scheme booklet for more information.
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Preserved benefit history
- This page shows a history of your preserved benefits since you left the scheme.
- The layout of the screen will vary depending on the scheme you are in, so please refer to the on screen text or your scheme booklet for moreinformation.
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Initial Pension information
- This page shows the date your pension commenced, your initial gross annual pension amount and, where applicable, the lump sum taken.
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Pension payment details
- These pages show a full history of all pension payments that have been made.
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For each payment you can view the following information
- A breakdown of the pension elements and any deductions that make up the payment.
- Details of where the payment was sent to and the date of credit.
- Your tax details at that date, such as your tax code in operation, the tax period and your gross and tax to-date figures, which may include previous employment.
- There is also the option to view details of the relevant tax office who you can contact if you have a query with your tax. If you do, they will require the PAYE Reference and your NI number, which can be seen on the left of the screen.
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Pension payment Tax Year summary
- This page shows the total pension payments made and the total tax deducted in each tax year.
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Update pension payment method
- This page allows beneficiaries to update the account into which their benefits are paid.
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Technical FAQ
- This section of the user guide covers some technical queries related to your browser or pop-up blocker settings.
- Problem: When I run a quotation, I receive an error message similar to one of the following:
- Internet Explorer cannot download the file <filename> from epa.watsonwyatt.com. IE was not able to open this internet site. The requested site is either unavailable or cannot be found. Please try again later.
- or
- Internet Explorer cannot download <filename> from epa.watsonwyatt.com. The file cannot be written to the cache.
- Answer: This problem occurs in various releases of Internet Explorer. It results from the setting of the "Do not save encrypted pages to disk" option in Tools/Internet Options/Advanced, in the security section.
- If you receive this error message, you should change the selection of the option. Remember to click the "Apply" button, and to exit and restart your browser so the new setting takes effect.
- Problem: When I run a quotation, ePA says that the quotation has been produced but I cannot see it
- Answer: This problem can occur due to pop-up blocker settings preventing the quotation from being displayed.
- You should set your pop-up blocker settings to allow pop-ups for the website epa.watsonwyatt.com
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Tutorials
- When you click on this option, a list of tutorials and demonstrations will be displayed. Click on the subject you would like more information on and then watch while the features of the system are shown and explained to you.
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Change password
- You can change your password as often as you want. You just need to follow the instructions on the screen.
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Feedback
- This feature lets you contact us. Enter your query in the space provided and press 'submit'.
- You can also use this form to let us know what you think of the self service site.
- If you cannot find the information you need or were unable to perform the task you wanted, please let us know.
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Joining the scheme - Enrolment
- This feature lets you join the pension scheme by selecting the options required.
- Introduction
- This page contains important legal information that you must read and agree to before you become a full active member of the scheme.
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- Contribution rate summary
- This page shows the contributions that must be paid for you to become a member of the scheme (these are marked with a red asterisk *) and other contributions that you may choose to pay. You need to review the contribution rates shown on this page and amend those you want to, where you can.
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- Choose/display contribution rate
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If this is a view only page () you cannot change the information and
this page will simply be confirmation of the amount that will be
paid. If this is a page you can amend () you can choose the contribution rate
you want to apply. There will be a list to pick from or a box to fill
in.
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- Investment decisions summary
- This page shows what options are available for your investment choices and whether or not you have specified your choice of investment funds. Where an investment choice has been made a tick will show in the ‘Fund Choice Specified’ column. If no investment choice has been made, you should complete this now.
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- Investment decision selection
- This page lets you choose whether you want to invest your contributions in a personal fund choice or whether you want to follow a scheme investment strategy. If you select a personal fund choice, you will need to select the specific funds you want these contributions paid into. If you select a scheme investment strategy your contributions will be invested in the funds selected for that investment strategy and will be moved to funds aimed at reflecting the cost of providing your retirement benefits as you near retirement.
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- Copying investment decisions
- The investment choice you have just made for some of your contributions can be copied to your other contributions. You need to decide which, if any, of the other contributions you want to have this investment choice and tick the appropriate box. If you do not want to copy this investment choice to other contributions you should not tick any boxes but confirm your choices.
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- Investment Strategy
- This page lets you choose from the scheme investment strategies available. You need to select the investment strategy and you can select a target retirement date. If you leave the target retirement date blank, this will be set to the scheme’s normal retirement date. If you input a target retirement date or age, the investment strategy will treat this as your expected retirement date and will move your contributions into funds aimed at reflecting the cost of providing your retirement benefits as you near this date.
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- Personal investment choice
- This page lets you select the fund(s) you want these contributions to be invested in. When you click on the arrow to the right of the select box a list will appear showing you all the funds available to you. For each fund you select you need to input the percentage(%) of the contributions you want to be paid into that fund. You must remember that the total for the funds you choose must equal 100%.
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- Summary of the decisions selected
- This page shows a summary of the contribution rates and investment choices you have made. It is recommended that you print a copy of this page (by clicking on ‘Print Summary’) to provide a full copy of your choices for your records.
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- Authorisation to proceed
- This page asks you to authorise the choices you have made. It is your formal request to join the scheme. By pressing ‘Authorise’ on this page you are confirming your decisions and agreeing to the terms set out at the beginning of the enrolment process. You will not be asked to re-confirm your choices after this screen. If you do not want to join the scheme do not press‘Authorise’.
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- Confirmation
- This page confirms that the enrolment process is complete.
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- Opting out of the Plan
- Opting out of the Plan is a big step and you should think carefully before you continue.
- We recommend that you seek advice from an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA) before you opt out.
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- Register for access to ePA
- This option is only required if you have been instructed by your employer or former employer to register on-line for an ePA userid and password.
- Upon successful registration, you will be sent your ePA userid and password.
- You do not need to register on-line if you have an ePA userid and password already or if your employer will be sending your userid and password by post.
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