DC Employee members
Employees who joined the Fund on or after 1st October 2010
You will be automatically enrolled as a member of the DC section on commencing employment with Imperial provided you are aged 22 or over but less than State Pension Age and you earn more than £10,000 a year.
If you do not meet the criteria for automatic enrolment you can elect to opt-in to membership of the DC section. You can find an opt-in form here: Opt in form
Upon receiving your first pension contributions Aegon will write to you to confirm your enrolment and your Retirement Account number. Aegon will also provide you with details on how to register for access to their TargetPlan website for the DC section and gain online access to your Retirement Account.
Your Retirement Account will become "preserved" and you will no longer be able to make any further pension contributions to it.
The value of your Retirement Account will depend upon the underlying value of your unitised investment holdings. The value will fluctuate on a daily basis and may rise or fall. It is possible to transfer the value of your Retirement Account to another HMRC registered pension scheme or leave your Account invested until you decide to draw your benefits on retirement.
Under current legislation you can draw your pension benefits early from age 55 onwards (age 57 from April 2028).
A lump sum equal to eight times your basic annual salary at your date of death would become payable to one or more of your beneficiaries. In addition, a lump sum equal to the closing value of your Retirement Account would be paid.
You can nominate any individual or charitable organisation to receive the lump sum death benefit. You can nominate more than one person and you can select the percentage amount you would like to allocate to that person(s). You can nominate your beneficiaries by completing an "Expression of Wish form".
The lump sum is paid by the Trustee under the discretionary trust of the Pension Fund and the payment would not normally be liable to inheritance tax provided it is not paid to your estate.
The amount of any tax free lump sum payable on your death will be subject to the limit imposed by the government's lump sum and death benefit allowance.
If you were a former employee member of the DB section when it closed to future accrual on 30 September 2023 there may also be other benefits payable to your dependants in line with the Rules of the DB section.
Draw some of your Retirement Account as a cash lump sum (with the first 25% being paid tax-free under current legislation) and invest the remainder in an income drawdown product.
Draw all of your Retirement Account in one go as a cash lump sum with the first 25% being paid tax-free under current legislation and the balance subject to an immediate tax charge at your marginal rate of income tax.
Draw some of your Retirement Account as a tax-free cash lump sum (up to 25% of the value of your Retirement Account under current legislation) and use the balance to purchase an annuity (pension).
