Stakeholder Pension Schemes

A stakeholder pension scheme is a type of personal pension plan. In other words, it is a money purchase arrangement designed to provide a lump sum and income in retirement. Like a personal pension plan, it is available to any UK resident under the age of 75 and can be bought from insurance companies, high street banks, investment firms and some retailers.

A stakeholder pension scheme has been designed to incorporate a set of minimum standards laid down by the Government. These include:

	a charging structure capped at 1.5% of the fund each year for the first 10 years and 1% a year thereafter;
	no penalties on increasing, decreasing, stopping and restarting contributions;
	no penalties on transferring the fund to another pension arrangement; and
	a minimum contribution of £20