There are important changes to the Fund’s Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVC) arrangements being made from January 2023.
These changes are applicable if you have paid or are currently paying using the current arrangement with Aviva (previously Friends Provident/Friends Life) or Utmost Life (formerly Equitable Life).
Our current AVC partners, Aviva and Utmost Life, no longer provide the services which our members require. As a result we have appointed Legal & General (L&G) as our new AVC provider in place of Aviva and Utmost. L&G serve many public and private sector pensions and our AVC arrangements will benefit from the ongoing development of L&G’s pension business.
When are the changes happening?
- From January 2023 any new AVC payments will be invested with L&G.
- In March 2023, the AVC pension pot you have built up will be transferred to L&G.
How does this affect me?
- The charges you pay will, in most cases, be lower for comparable funds.
- You will be offered a wide range of investment funds, many aligned with climate change objectives.
- Online service will enable you to see how much your AVC is worth and change which funds you invest in with tools to help you choose.
Do I need to take any action?
- You do not need to do anything.
- You will be set up with a new L&G account. Changing your AVC payments and moving your pension pot to L&G will happen automatically.
- You will be invested in the L&G Cash Target Date Fund.
- However, if you want to change your investment fund you will be able to select a different fund if an alternative better suits your needs.
For further information we recommend that you read the following Appendices:
You can find more about the investment options and access the e-form if you want to choose where your AVCs are initially invested at the L&G website