LTB 008/17 – BT Smart Pensions: Inclusion from 1 February 2017

No. 008/2017

9th January 2017

To: All Branches with BT members

Dear Colleague,

BT Smart Pensions: Inclusion from 1 February 2017

Most members of the BT Pension Scheme (BTPS) and BT Retirement Saving Scheme (BTRSS) who do not currently participate in Smart Pensions will be automatically enrolled into Smart by BT from 1st February 2017.

Following agreement with the CWU, Smart Pensions was introduced in 2004, and the majority of BTPS and BTRSS members currently participate in this arrangement.

Smart Pensions is a way of making payments to your BT pension arrangement via salary sacrifice. Individuals forego part of their salary in return for BT making pension contributions on their behalf. Joining Smart reduces the amount paid in National Insurance contributions by both individuals and BT.

Following a review of salary sacrifice arrangements the Government has recently confirmed that these arrangements covering pensions can continue.

BT will be contacting all those in scope for this exercise directly this week and will provide information about the level of savings that can be made. Anyone who does not want to participate can opt out.

Not everyone can benefit from Smart Pensions. This includes those whose salary is near to the National Minimum Wage, or near to the threshold at which National Insurance contributions are paid. More details are given in the attached document.

As a result BT has excluded anyone from this exercise that the Company believes would be disadvantaged.

If members involved in this exercise require further information then they should contact the relevant pension administrators as follows.

Please note that the CWU is not allowed to advise individuals about whether or not to participate in Smart pensions. Anyone who is unsure about how to proceed should seek independent financial advice.

Attached is a copy of the relevant BT intranet pages and a Q & A document.

Nigel Cotgrove

Assistant Secretary