Jargon Buster

Additional Voluntary Contribution/ Additional Voluntary Contributions/ AVCs
One-off or regular payments you can choose to put into your pension on top your usual payments. The money comes straight from your pay, so you need to make sure you have enough to cover the amount you want to put in. If you pay AVCs this will not change what Whitbread pays to your pension. To make AVCs, go to the OneView website.
Annual allowance
The amount that can be paid into your pension tax free. The standard annual allowance is £60,000, but, if your earnings exceed £200,000 a year, and if those earnings plus your own and Whitbread’s pension payments exceed £260,000 a year, your annual allowance will reduce on a sliding scale. For example, someone whose earnings plus pension payments are worth £350,000 will have a reduced annual allowance of £15,000. The minimum annual allowance is £10,000 and this applies to someone whose earnings plus pension payments exceed £360,000.

You might be able to use annual allowance from previous years, if you haven’t already used it up.

To help you work out if this applies to you, you can use our annual allowance tool at www.whitbreadaamodeller.co.uk.
Annuity
An income for life that you buy when you retire, using the money in your pension. You usually buy it from an insurance company.
Auto-enrolment/ Automatic enrolment/ auto enrolment
Joining a company pension scheme automatically. You don’t have to sign any forms – your company does it all for you. Whether you join automatically depends on your age and your pay.

Basic pay
If you are salaried this is your contractual pay, not including bonus, car allowance and any other cash benefits. If you are paid hourly this is your contracted hours at your hourly rate.
Basic rate taxpayer/ ordinary rate taxpayer
Someone who earns enough to pay tax at the low rate, but not enough to pay at the high rate. You can see how much you need to earn to pay tax at the low rate here.
Benefit / Benefits
A payment that helps you or your family. You could get it from Whitbread, the Government or an insurance company.
Bond/ Bonds
A loan to a company or organisation. The company pays interest for lending them the money.

Cash plan
A way of investing your pension money if you want to take it as cash when you retire. It’s also known as a cash path.
Cash/ cash investments
Cash investments are invested in deposit accounts like bank accounts, or loans for less than one year.
Company pension / company pensions
A way of saving for when you retire, that you arrange through the company you work for. You and your employer pay into it, and you might get tax relief too.
Corporate bonds
Loans to companies. Companies pay interest for lending them the money.
Cost of living
The money you need to pay for everyday things like food, clothes and your home.

Data Protection Act
A law that makes sure that people who hold your personal information have a good reason for holding it and only hold what they need to.
Death benefit / Death benefits
An amount of money that your pension would pay out if you died while you were working for Whitbread. You can say who you would like that money to go to. If you choose to join one of the pension options and pay at least 5% of your basic pay into your pension, your family will get an extra amount of money known as a ‘death benefit’. This extra amount is usually 4 x your annual basic pay (or 6x if you joined the pension scheme before 1 April 2018). If you leave or opt out of the scheme, your family won’t receive this extra amount, but they will still receive whatever money is in your pension pot.
Default investment plan
A plan that the trustee of the Whitbread Pension Scheme chooses for investing members’ money, if the member doesn’t make a choice.
Deposit accounts
Where you keep money in a bank or other financial company.
Directors
The people who run a company.
Diversified assets
Investments in lots of different things, such as property, roads, power stations, shares in private companies, traded goods like steel and coffee, and loans.

Earnings
To calculate your annual allowance you need to know your earnings. Your earnings include everything you pay tax on eg:

- Everything that appears on your Whitbread P60, such as basic salary, bonus, car, BUPA, released deferred equity or LTIP

- Any other income you are required to declare on your tax return, such as interest from your bank account, property rental income and dividend income
Employee number
The 8-digit number on your payslip.
Equities/ Shares
A company can be divided into shares, also known as equities, which can be brought and sold. If you own shares in a company, you own part of that company.

Full State Pension
The maximum State Pension someone can get. You can find out how much you might get here.
Fund/ Funds
A way to invest, where lots of people’s money is put together to be invested.

Gilts
Loans to a government. The government pays interest for lending them the money.

Higher rate tax
You pay a higher rate of tax if you earn over a certain amount. You can find out about tax rates here.
HM Revenue & Customs
The part of the UK Government that collects tax. Also called HMRC.

Ill-health benefit / Ill-health benefits
If you choose to join one of the pension options, you will be able to apply for an ill-health benefit if you become too ill to work again. This is usually a lump sum payment of 4 x your annual basic pay (or 6x if you joined the pension scheme before 1 April 2018). If you leave or opt out of the scheme, you won’t be able to apply for this money.
Income
Any money that you get regularly.
Income plan
A way of investing your pension money if you want to use it as an income when you retire. It’s also known as an income path.
Independent financial advice
Help with what to do with your money, from someone who can tell you about all your choices, not just the choices that one particular bank or financial organisation can offer you. You can find an independent financial adviser on this website: www.unbiased.co.uk
Insurance company
A company that gives you an income when you retire, if you buy an annuity from them.
Interest
The money that you pay to borrow money, or that someone else pays you if you lend them money.
Invest/ invested/ investing/ Investment / investments
When you take some money that you’ve already got, and use it to try to make more money.
Investment managers/ managers/ manager
People who invest money to try to make it grow. The managers that the trustee uses are supervised by the Financial Conduct Authority, who make sure that they do business properly.
Investment path
How your money is invested as you get closer to retirement and choose whether you will want cash or income. (This is the case for most members, unless you have chosen to invest in the Shariah Fund.)

Join automatically
Join a company pension scheme without having to sign any forms – your company does it all for you. Whether you join automatically depends on your age and your pay.

Loan/ Loans
Money that one person borrows from another, and has to pay back.

Maternity leave
Time off work that a woman gets by law when she has a baby.
Member / Members
Someone who is in the pension scheme.
Merged
When a company joins with another company to create a new company.

National Insurance
Money that goes out of your pay to the Government. This money helps to pay for State benefits including the State Pension.
NEST
A pension scheme set up by the Government. Some companies are using NEST to give their employees a pension, instead of using their own company scheme. NEST stands for the National Employment Savings Trust.

One-off amount
A payment that’s made once.
OneView
A secure website that is run by Mercer, the company that helps us run the Whitbread Pension Scheme.
Opt in
Choose to join the pension scheme.
Opt out
Tell us you don’t want to be a member of the Whitbread Pension Scheme.
Opting in
Choosing to join the pension scheme.
Opting out
Telling us you don’t want to be a member of the Whitbread Pension Scheme.

Paternity leave
Time off work that a man gets by law when he becomes a father.
Pay a higher rate of tax
You pay a higher rate of tax if you earn over a certain amount. You can find out about tax rates here.
Pension account/ member’s account
An account set up for you where your pension money is kept.
Pension options/options
You have choices about what you pay into your pension. We call these pension options.
Pension scheme/ A scheme
A way for people to build up money in a pension.
Pension Wise
Free impartial guidance for people who are retiring, provided through the Government’s MoneyHelper service.
Pension/ Pensions
A way to save money so you get an income when you retire. It can also mean the income you get when you retire.
Potential reward
Money you could make from investments.
Private pension
A pension that you set up yourself, with a bank or financial company.
Profits
The money a company has left once it’s paid its costs.

Retire/ retirement
When you leave your job and stop work because of your age, or because you don’t need to earn the money any more.
Return
The money you make from an investment.
Risk
The chance that you might lose some money. See ‘What is ‘risk’ and why is it important?' - here.

Section A
You may be in Section A for one of two reasons:
- Either you were automatically enrolled into the pension scheme
or
- You chose to join the scheme before April 2018 and when we introduced new pension options in April 2018 you didn’t choose one of these new options.
In Section A, you'll pay in 5% of everything you earn between £520 and £4,189 and Whitbread will pay in 3%
Share/ Shares/ Equities
A company can be divided into shares, also known as equities, which can be bought and sold. If you own shares in a company, you own part of that company.
Shariah Fund
The Sharia Fund invests in a portfolio of Shariah-compliant investments governed by the requirements of the Shariah law and Islamic finance and the principles of the Islamic religion. Although, the Shariah Fund invests in this way, it is an investment option available for both Muslims and non-Muslims.
State benefits
Money that some people get from the Government.
State Pension
Regular money you get from the Government when you reach State Pension age.
State Pension age
The age you have to be to start getting the State Pension.

Tax
Money that comes out of most people’s pay, that the Government uses to provide public services and State benefits.
Tax relief
A way for a tax payer to pay less tax. The Government gives you tax relief to encourage you to save. The amount of tax relief you get on your pension payments depends on the rate of tax you pay. If you are a basic-rate taxpayer, then every £1 you pay into your pension will only reduce your take-home pay by 80p. If you are a higher-rate taxpayer, it will reduce your take-home pay by even less.
Taxpayer
Someone who pays tax.
The Government’s standards
The rules that the Government has about how company pensions should work.
The Pensions Advisory Service (TPAS)
An independent group that can give you free information about pensions. You can contact them at: www.pensionsadvisoryservice.org.uk
The Pensions Ombudsman
A free service that looks into complaints about pensions. You can contact them at: www.pensions-ombudsman.org.uk
Trust
Something that holds money for a person or a group of people.
Trustee/ trustees
The trustee of a pension scheme looks after all the money that the members have in that scheme.

Value
How much something is worth.

Whitbread pension
The money you have in the Whitbread Pension Scheme. This money can give you cash or an income when you retire, and may give you other benefits.
Whitbread scheme/ Whitbread Pension Scheme
A company pension scheme that is open to people who work at Whitbread.

Your basic pay
If you are salaried this is your contractual pay, excluding bonus, car allowance and any other cash benefits. If you are paid hourly this is your contracted hours at your hourly rate.
Your take-home pay
The money you get after things like tax and National Insurance have been taken off.

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