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Investments

You must decide where you wish to invest the contributions to your Member Account. This is an important decision, because the investment returns, risks and charges that your account achieves will have a direct impact on the size of your Member Account at retirement and the level of pension that you will have.

The Trustee has appointed Legal & General to provide administration and investment services to the Scheme. You can choose where you wish to invest your Member Account from a range of funds offered by Legal & General.

The investment options offered to DC members in the DC Section are as follows:

Option 1 – Default Investment Option – Annuity Focussed Lifestyle Strategy.
This lifestyle strategy is the default option for DC members who do not make any active investment decision.

Option 2 – Self-select lifestyle strategies– Two alternative lifestyle strategies

Option 3 – Self-select investment funds– Nine asset class funds

INVESTMENT OPTIONS

Default investment option

Annuity focussed Lifestyle Strategy

This is the default lifestyle option for DC members who are less confident about making investment decisions and require assistance in making their choice. This option has, with the Trustee and its investment adviser’s input, been designed to offer members a good balance between risk and return that should meet the needs of the majority of DC members. It is assumed in the design that you are aiming to purchase an annuity at retirement.

The default option use a process called Lifestyling. This means your Member Account is automatically moved from investments designed for growth to investments that may protect the value of your account and are a better match for taking your benefits as an annuity and cash.

The lifestyle strategy is currently made up of the Legal & General Global Equity Market Weights 30:70 Index Fund for the growth phase i.e. the period up to 20 years before your target retirement age. For the decumulation phase, the 20 years running up to target retirement age, your Member Account will be spread accross a broader range of investments and the lifestyle strategy gradually moves to the Legal & General Diversified Growth Fund. In the final 10 years before your target retirement age your Member Account will be moved into the Legal & General Pre-retirement Fund and Legal & General Cash Fund. By your target retirement age you will be fully invested in these funds in a 75%/25% ratio.

Important note: This lifestyle strategy targets cash and an annuity purchase at your target retirement age and may not be appropriate if you do not intend to buy an annuity.

For those who wish to actively choose where they invest their Member Account, the following options are available:

Self select lifestyle strategies

The two legacy lifestyle strategies below are now closed to new members. However, DC members who are currently paying Top Up Contributions (TUC) into either of these lifestyle strategies can continue investing in them as appropriate.

Self select investment funds

You can access a list of charges for the available funds here.

MANAGE YOUR ACCOUNT

You can switch between the investment funds that the Trustee has made available at any time. Switching is currently free of charge. You can manage your account by clicking here. This will take you to the Legal and General website where you can access information about your personal fund whenever you want.

If you require further information in regard to investment choices or access to Legal & General investment literature please click here and refer to the Generation 3 fund range.

Neither the Company nor the Pensions Office can give you advice about selecting the appropriate investment fund. If you need help in deciding which of the funds best suits your investment needs, you should seek external independent financial advice. The IFA Promotions website www.unbiased.co.uk has contact details for local independent financial advisers.