Personal Accounts: Home Page

April 2012 will see a significant change in the way people save for their pensions when the UK Government introduces personal accounts, sometimes referred to as personal account pensions....

There’s been no shortage of press coverage concerning pension shortfalls – The Pensions Commission found that between 9.6 and 12 million people were undersaving based on the benchmarks they set out. In order to counteract this, the Government is introducing a national pension savings scheme known as ‘personal accounts’. Under the new system, all employees will be automatically included in a personal account pension scheme unless their employer already offers a suitable alternate pension. Importantly employees will be compelled to contribute 4% of band earnings and employers will have to contribute 3%. A further 1% will be paid in the form of tax relief making a total contribution of 8% of band earnings.

This site is designed to provide interested parties with an independent source of information on Personal Accounts and to help UK employers to plan a strategy to cope with, comply with, and even benefit from the new rulings. Employers can find out if their existing scheme is compliant, find personal accouts advice or read more about what will be expected from them and what can be done in the options for employers section.

For more information on personal accounts -"a new way to save" read our summary to date.

Reaction from the insurance industry, finacial establishments and employers has been fierce and vehement. Our press archive section on the right provides links to third party news stories as personal accounts have taken shape since April 2007. Our industry reaction section has articles and opinion from key people in the insurance world.