LIFETRACK
Your membership
Joining and cost
Joining the Main Section
As a general rule, the Main Section no longer accepts new members. However, the Principal Employer can admit new members by exception, including new employees who are “protected employees” under the Electricity Act pension protection regime and so have a right to be a member of a final salary pension arrangement.
What you pay
As a Contributing Member of the Main Section, you pay 5% of your Salary to the RWE Group.
You will stop paying contributions at the earlier of your Normal Pension Age and you completing 40 years’ Contributing Service.
You can choose to build up a further five years of Contributing Service after your Normal Pension Age. If you choose to do this, you will continue to pay contributions (or start paying contributions again if you have stopped previously) from your Normal Pension Age until your Contributing Service stops.
Example of what you pay
Jane joined the Main Section on 1st January 2003 on her 20th birthday. Her Normal Pension Age is age 63. She has no Back Service Credit or Added Years to add to her Contributing Service.
If she continues to work for her Employer and to be a Contributing Member of the Main Section she will stop paying contributions on 1st January 2043 (her 60th birthday) when she has 40 years Contributing Service.
If she is still working for her employer on 1st January 2046 when she reaches her 63rd birthday, she can choose to build up a further five years of Contributing Service, in which case she will start paying contributions again.
Pre-1988 Members: You will stop paying contributions at the earlier of your 60th birthday and you completing 40 years’ Contributing Service. You can choose to build up a further five years of Contributing Service after your 60th birthday. You will not pay contributions for Contributing Service after your 60th birthday.
Pre-1978 Members: You may have paid a lower rate of contributions in the past, resulting in a reduction to the lump sum payable when you take your benefits and/ or the pension(s) payable to your dependants when you die.
What your Employer pays
Your Employer pays contributions to make good the difference between the contributions you pay and the cost of providing your benefits under and running the RWE Group.
Salary exchange
If you have chosen to participate in your Employer’s salary exchange arrangement, then you will not pay contributions to the Main Section. Instead, your Employer will reduce your salary by the amount of your contribution to the Main Section, including any AVCs, before tax and National Insurance Contributions. In return, your Employer will increase its payment to the Main Section to include your contribution in addition to its own Employer contribution.
The overall contribution to the Main Section is the same. The key difference is that your pension contribution is not deducted from your salary by your Employer, and under current legislation you and your Employer do not pay National Insurance Contributions on the amount you have exchanged. This means that your take home pay is slightly higher than if you had paid the contributions from your salary.
Salary exchange affects contributions only, and not the benefits payable from the Main Section. The Group Trustees will use the salary you would have received if you had not participated in the pension salary exchange arrangement to calculate your pension and lump sum benefits, and any benefits payable on your death or ill-health, and your Employer will use your pre-salary exchange figures if you need confirmation of salary for a loan or mortgage application.
For more information on salary exchange, please contact your Employer.
Transfers in
It may be possible, if you wish, to transfer benefits from another pension scheme to the Main Section in return for additional Contributing Service in the Main Section, known as a Back Service Credit. Transfers into the Main Section can only be made with the agreement of the Principal Employer. Please contact the Administrator of RWE Group, WTW, for more information about transferring benefits from another pension scheme to the Main Section.
Disclaimer
This guide is a summary of the main provisions of the RWE Group relevant to you and your benefits. It is not, and is not intended to be, a summary of every detail of the RWE Group or to cover every set of circumstances.
The RWE Group’s detailed benefit provisions are set out in its formal governing documents, the trust deed and rules. This guide summarises the benefits provided by the RWE Group and its related provisions. Whilst every effort has been made to summarise the benefits and provisions of the RWE Group accurately, if there are any differences between this guide and the trust deed and rules, the trust deed and rules (as amended from time to time) will apply and override the terms of this guide.
This guide is dated January 2025. Every effort has been made to ensure the guide is up to date and accurate at the time of writing, however, subsequent changes to the RWE Group’s governing documents, applicable legislation and/or the tax regime may consequently affect its accuracy or completeness.