The basics

• The Trustee Buy Out Plan (TBOP) allows Trustees to provide their members with a buy out contract – either following the wind up of their occupational pension scheme or for securing benefits for members with short service.
• TBOP has been designed for use by Trustees of defined contribution (money purchase) occupational pension schemes. It cannot accept defined benefits, including GMP and Reference Scheme Test benefits.
• The plan accepts Protected Rights and Non-Protected Rights benefits (it can’t accept safeguarded rights).
• Each scheme member has their own individual plan, which means they can monitor the value of their fund.
• The plan has access to more than 300 funds including lifestyle profiles, passive and active funds managed by Legal & General and by external fund managers.
• The plan allows members to switch between funds at any time. Members can invest in either one lifestyle profile, or in up to ten funds, at any one time.
• Members can view details of their funds, notify us of any changes to their personal circumstances and change their investments online through ‘Manage Your Account (MYA)’.
• Income Withdrawal is available for members with larger funds (currently subject to a minimum fund value of £100,000 when benefits are taken).
• If the value of the benefits from all the Registered Pension Schemes of a member exceeds the Lifetime Allowance (LTA), the excess will be subject to a tax charge. The standard LTA for 2008/2009 is £1,650,000 but a member may be entitled to a Personal Lifetime Allowance in certain circumstances.
• If a transfer payment relates to a wind-up and represents the member’s full entitlement in a scheme, any Protected Tax Free Cash (PTFC) will be maintained after the transfer. (PTFC is an entitlement to more than 25% of the fund value as a tax-free sum cash in respect of a member’s pre 6 April 2006 benefits.)

The value of the units, which make up a member’s fund, can go down as well as up, so the value of a member’s fund is not guaranteed. It is particularly important to remember this if a member is close to retirement. Please remember that the money is tied up until retirement benefits are taken. Please view the other risk factors associated with this product.