MARCH 2024
MARCH 2024
Welcome to the latest edition of Pension Update, the newsletter of the TotalEnergies UK Pension Plan.
Nothing stands still for long, either in the Plan or in the wider world of pensions, so there are plenty of developments to let you know about. In this newsletter, you’ll be able to read about some upcoming changes to the Plan’s investments as a result of a recent review. We’ll be writing to you with full details later this year.
We’ve recently published our Climate Disclosure Report and we’d love you to take a look and see just how much we’re doing to monitor the environmental impact of the Plan’s investments.
We also thought it would be good for you to find out more about the people behind the Plan, so with that in mind we’ve got interviews with Louise Cook, one of my colleagues on the Trustee Board, and Lisa Decieco, a long-term member of the Gallagher administration team.
As a new feature, we’re also introducing some case studies to help you think through your own situation on your journey to retirement. I hope you find these useful.
As ever, I’d like to encourage you to make the most of the online services we provide to help you understand and manage your TotalEnergies pension – in particular the Member Portal, which you can use to review and update everything from your personal details to your investment choices. And don’t forget the new pensions app! Details of how to access these services are provided at the end of the newsletter.
Rob White
Chair of TotalEnergies Pension Trustee UK Limited
We thought you’d like to find out a bit more about some of the people responsible for running the Plan, so we’ve interviewed one of our Trustee Directors and one of our administrators to give you a glimpse behind the scenes.
Louise Cook
Member-Nominated Trustee Director (MNTD)
Louise joined the Trustee Board last year as a result of the MNTD exercise we ran in the spring. Here she tells us about her experience so far…
First and foremost, our mindset is always to be on the beneficiary’s interests. As Trustee Directors we are responsible for managing the Plan for the benefit of our members, so adopting this way of thinking is a skill in itself. It also involves multiple skills: ‘hard’ skills for the need to understand processes and principles, and the ‘softer’ skills to allow us all to work effectively as a team and negotiate. Outwith the overall Board meetings we are split, strategically, into sub-committees, so there is also the element of remaining up to date and running our sub-committees effectively. This allows us all to successfully run the Plan and ensures all areas – from investments, security, administration etc. – are looked after for our members.
No surprises as such, but since joining the Board and attending several meetings I’m impressed with how well-managed our scheme is within our company. We are a strong, close-knit Board with varied experiences and backgrounds and work very successfully as a team.
One thing I hadn’t taken account for was the size of the decisions that are made at times, and the importance of managing these decisions on time and reading the detail. I’ve also been impressed by the level of training that we have access to, both online and in person. I feel very supported and continue to gain pension/financial knowledge, developing my abilities to not only help run the Plan but also developing my professional network for the company.
I’m going to quote the rhyme… Pay attention to your pension!
Try not to procrastinate about investing and learning about how your pension is performing. I find it scary how quickly time can just pass you by and you've taken little to no interest in your pension (until now!). During my career here at TEPUK, I have mainly invested my energy into the here and now of my day-to-day career and social life, and not appreciated or understood the importance of life beyond 65. I personally will be reviewing what I can afford and contributing a little bit extra to put away towards my future years. Time certainly does speed up the older you get, even though I am still in denial!
Lisa Decieco
Team Leader
Lisa is one of the longest-serving members of the Gallagher team. Here she tells us a little more about what that involves, and what changes she’s seen during her time working with the Plan…
Predominantly, this involves answering member requests that have been received via a phone call, email, the Member Portal or by post. These can be anything from questions about how the Plan works, to requests to transfer benefits — which means that no two days are the same!
I started working on the Plan in June 2010. There have been a lot of changes in that time, the biggest being during 2021 when we had the sale of Lindsey Oil Refinery and the closure of the DB scheme to future accruals. The pensions landscape is always changing so we have to keep up-to-date with the latest industry news and developments as well.
The public website (pensioninfo.totalenergies.uk) is a good source of information and links through to the Member Portal.
The Plan also has an appointed firm of advisers — WPSA — who offer one round of free advice when you are looking to take your benefits. This is a service funded by the Plan Trustee to assist you with the important decision you need to make about your future income, so I recommend you take advantage of it when the time comes.
I like to spend time with my family travelling the UK in our caravan, and going out for motorbike rides with my husband.
Sometimes it can be helpful to view your pension through the lens of someone else who’s in a comparable position. We’ve therefore provided a couple of examples of typical members who might be facing some of the same questions and decisions as you.
Remember: we can’t give you financial advice. These case studies are just examples to help you think through the issues. You should carefully consider your own personal circumstances and think about taking independent financial advice before making any major decisions regarding your pension.
You can get general guidance and information about pensions via MoneyHelper, a free service provided by the government. MoneyHelper can also help you to find an Independent Financial Adviser in your area. Go to moneyhelper.org.uk to get started.
“Hi, I’m Thierry. I’m 28 years old and I’ve recently started working for TotalEnergies. I’ve been automatically enrolled into the pension scheme but I’m not sure it’s a good use of my money. I’d rather be saving to buy a house – and have some more spare cash for going out.”
What we’d say to Thierry:
Don’t undervalue your pension! It’s a really important part of the financial big picture and a great way to save for the future:
“Hello. I’m Emily. I’m 55 years old. I stopped working for TotalEnergies five years ago, but I’ve still got savings in the Plan. I think they’re just in the default investment option – I never really paid much attention to that side of things. I’m planning to retire and take my savings in three or four years’ time anyway.”
What we’d say to Emily:
One of the most important jobs of the Trustee Board is to work with our Investment Advisers to make sure that the options we offer are suitable for you as members. In particular we’ve been reviewing the default investment option, which aims to move savings into less risky investments in the years just before retirement in order to protect against sudden falls in value. This ‘de-risking’ can, however, reduce the potential for growth – so a balance needs to be struck.
As a result of our review, we’re going to be making some changes later this year, and wanted to let you know so that you’re on the look-out for more information when it’s available. We’ll write to you in the next couple of months with details of the changes and what you might need or want to do in light of them, depending on your circumstances.
In the meantime, we’d advise all members to register for the Member Portal which enables you to check and change your current investment preferences, as well as monitoring the performance of your investments. You can find out more information about investment in general on the Plan website, pensioninfo.totalenergies.uk
We’ve recently released our first Climate Disclosure Report, which tells you what we’re doing to make sure we’re investing the Plan’s assets in environmentally sustainable ways. You might not realise, but your pension savings collectively have tremendous power for good – not only through direct investment in ‘green’ companies, but also through voting rights that our investment managers can exercise as stakeholders.
We’ve published our report in an online format, to help you get to the heart of the information it contains. Go to tcfd.pensioninfo.totalenergies.uk to read more.
Later this year, we’ll be sending annual benefit statements to active and deferred members. These statements contain a Statutory Money Purchase Illustration (SMPI) – basically a projection of what your savings could be worth when you turn them into an income at retirement (an annuity).
The pensions industry has recently changed the basis on which SMPIs are calculated, meaning that we have to assume that your annuity won’t increase in payment to take account of inflation, and it won’t include provision for a spouse or partner when you die. Those might not be your circumstances when you come to take your benefits, so please bear that in mind when reviewing your statement later this year.
On 6 March 2024, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt delivered his Spring Budget, setting out the Government’s key commitments and objectives for the UK economy.
While 2023’s Budget contained significant changes to pension taxation, there were no such announcements this year. Instead, the main takeaway for pension schemes was a push to deliver better value for savers and increase investment in the UK economy.
The Chancellor announced new powers for The Pensions Regulator and the Financial Conduct Authority to assess pension schemes on overall returns rather than just costs. There will also be new requirements for Defined Contribution and Local Government schemes to declare how much they have invested in UK shares.
The consultation on the idea of “pots for life” (pension accounts you can take with you when you move employer) will continue, as part of ongoing efforts to make pensions simpler and more flexible.
Many of the headlines picked up on the reduction of employee National Insurance contributions from 10% to 8% (on top of the reduction from 12% announced in the Autumn Statement). This cut represents a further attempt to ease the cost-of-living pressures many are still facing. It could also present an opportunity for people to put a little more aside for their future – perhaps by increasing contributions to their pension.
If you’d like to check how your TotalEnergies pension is doing, you can always visit the Member Portal.
As we come to the end of another tax year, you may find this a good time to do some financial planning. Figuring out how your TotalEnergies pension fits in with that bigger picture could be a helpful first step. If you want to check the current position of your pension, why not visit our member portal?
Budgeting and expenses
It’s important to regularly revisit your budget and align it with your financial goals. Analysing monthly expenses and identifying areas where adjustments can be made will help in maintaining a balanced budget and getting on top of any debt you may have. You should also consider potential increases in living costs, such as healthcare, utilities, and groceries.
Government programs and benefits
It’s important to keep up to date with new laws and Government initiatives. This includes staying informed about adjustments in pension taxation, tax credits, and potential help and/or benefits that you may be eligible for. If things aren’t clear, seeking advice from financial professionals or using online resources can help.
If you’re getting close to retirement and want to think about how much income you’ll need, you might find it helpful to look at the Retirement Living Standards produced by the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA): retirementlivingstandards.org.uk
The PLSA have recently published a new set of figures, increased to take account of the rises in the cost of living and greater expectations for grandparents to provide financial support to grandchildren. These figures suggest a single person will need an income of just over £31,000 in retirement to support a moderate standard of living, with a married couple needing £43,000.
The Retirement Living Standards website gives more information about how these figures have been calculated, along with suggested incomes required for a minimum or a more comfortable standard of living. They can be a really helpful guide for your financial planning, so we suggest you take a look. You can then go onto the Member Portal to use our retirement modeller and see how your savings in the Plan measure up.
New research from NOW: Pensions and the Pensions Policy Institute (PPI) shows that, when it comes to retirement provision, women are at a significant disadvantage. On average, women retire with £69,000 in their pension savings, compared to a figure of £205,000 for men. This difference amounts to an extra 19 years of saving at average rates. To put it another way, a girl would have to start saving for retirement at the age of three to catch up with a man who started saving at 22 when automatic enrolment for occupational pension schemes kicks in.
There are various reasons for this, including lower incomes for women generally. About 1.9 million women in the UK don't get automatically enrolled in a workplace pension because they earn less than the threshold. If the age and earning requirements were removed, nearly 885,000 more young women would join a workplace pension.
Women often take breaks from work for childcare or other caring responsibilities, which can lead to a significant gap in their careers and, on average, £39,000 less in pension savings. Childcare costs are also a burden, with average nursery fees being around £14,800 a year, rising to £20,000 or more in London. As a result of these factors, by their late 50s, women have typically only accumulated 62% of the pension wealth of men.
Making matters worse, women generally live longer than men, which means their pension savings have to last longer. Due to a lifetime of earning inequalities, two-thirds of pensioners living in poverty are women, with single women making up half of this group.
These findings are important because they help the pensions industry and female pension savers to be more aware of the size of the problem so we can start doing something about it. If you’re concerned about your own situation, the first step is to make sure you know how much your pension is worth and what you can do to give it a boost. A visit to the Member Portal should be your first port of call – why not log in today and see where your savings are up to?
To read general information about the Plan, go to our website, pensioninfo.totalenergies.uk
To access the Member Portal and view your specific information, go to the “View my pension online” section of the website.
And don’t forget our new pensions app, which you can also use to view your personal details. Go to your app store and search for “Orion+ Buck” to get started. Your registration details will be the same as for the Portal, so you’ll need to make sure you’ve registered there first.
You can get general help and advice about pensions from MoneyHelper, a free service from the Government.
If you’ve lost touch with a pension you had in the past, the Pension Tracing Service may be able to help.
Gallagher is the Plan Administrator for the TotalEnergies UK Pension Plan.
If you have any questions about your benefits, you can contact them by: