Saving you money as you save for retirement - Pensions are important and as a member of the Alstom Pension Scheme, you are already building up valuable benefits for your retirement. From 6 April 2011, the Company is introducing a more efficient way of making contributions to your pension. This is a straightforward arrangement – widely known as 'Salary Sacrifice'. It's already used by many of the UK's leading employers.

How it works - Salary Sacrifice arrangements allow companies to provide employees with certain benefits in a way that reduces the amount of National Insurance that has to be paid. The Company already provides a Salary Sacrifice arrangement for childcare vouchers, and Salary Sacrifice for pension contributions works in the same way.

How you benefit - If you take part in Salary Sacrifice and have not reached State Pension Age, you will pay less National Insurance. This means that your take-home pay will be higher than it would be if you did not take part in Salary Sacrifice.

What you need to do - The deadline for taking part in (or opting out of) Salary Sacrifice for pension contributions for the year commencing 6 April 2011 was 28 February 2011. Confirmation letters were sent out in March to all active members, confirming their pension contribution arrangements from April 2011. If you opted out, then your next opportunity to take part in Salary Sacrifice for pension contributions will be from 6 April 2012.
Finding out more - For more information please read the Salary Sacrifice guide, which was posted to the home address of all active members in February 2011, and the Member Booklet which incorporates the Addendum issued in July 2011 in respect of Salary Sacrifice. Click here to view some useful Questions and Answers. Please direct any additional questions to your local HR partner.


This page updated on 21 July 2011