Changing circumstances

If you want to leave the UPP while still employed by the Company, you must opt out using the Benify flexible benefit platform. 

All new contributions to your pension account will stop. This means you will be a deferred member, rather than an active one.

You also will not be eligible for the life insurance benefit of six time your basic annual salary or the Group Income Protection scheme. 

Your previous contributions will remain invested with Fidelity until you come to claim your benefits or decide to transfer out. You can find more details about transfers on the transfers and scams page.

You can continue to manage and change your investment choices as long as you remain invested with Fidelity, even if you have stopped paying in. See the investment and fund choices page and PlanViewer for more details about your investment options. 

If you die before taking your benefits, these will be paid to your beneficiaries based on the value of your pension account at the date of payment.

If you change your mind about leaving the UPP, you can rejoin during the Benify flexible benefit window in March (and contributions will start from 1 April). Please note that you will also be re enrolled periodically in line with automatic enrolment legislative requirements.

If you change jobs, the Company’s contributions will stop and you will not be able to continue making regular contributions to the UPP. 

You can choose to leave your previous contributions invested with Fidelity until you are ready to claim them.  In this case your money will remain invested, although you can change your investment funds at any time. You can also continue to make single contributions or transfer in from a previous pension arrangement. 

If you, or your new employer, wish to continue making regular contributions to a Fidelity arrangement then a new pension account will be set up for you. In that case, all of the existing assets in your UPP pension account, will be transferred to this new account. The charges that will be applied under the new account could be more or less than those charged under the UPP arrangement.

Alternatively, you may decide to transfer out to another registered pension scheme entirely. This could be your new employer's pension scheme or another personal pension. Please see the transfers page for more details.

If you are away from work temporarily for any reason, your membership of the UPP will continue as long as you are not treated as having left the Company. 

The Company’s contributions will also continue while you are away. These will be based on your actual earnings.

When you are away on maternity, adoption or paternity leave and are being paid maternity, adoption or paternity pay, Company contributions will continue to your pension account. 

If you contribute using salary sacrifice, these Company contributions will be based on your pay before you went on leave. 

The level of your contributions will be based on your actual earnings at the time, rather than your pay before you went on leave.

Most periods of sick leave are likely to be relatively short. As such these will not affect your membership of the UPP. As long as you are paid sick leave and continue paying your contributions to the UPP, your pension account will not be affected. 

If you need to take unpaid or long-term sick leave, please speak to your employer about how this will affect your benefits and membership of the UPP.

Stopping work completely due to ill-health

If you become too ill to work all together it may be possible for you to take the benefits that have built up in your pension account at an earlier age than usual. 

If you become seriously ill you might be able to take all your benefits as a cash lump sum. 

For further information regarding these options please contact Fidelity.

After a two-year qualifying period, if you become too ill to work, you may also be entitled (subject to various conditions), to income protection. This benefit is provided by Uniper, rather than the UPP administrator, Fidelity. You can read more about it in the Appendix of the Uniper Pension Plan Summary.

If you are going through a divorce or the dissolution of a civil partnership, you will need to tell the UPP administrator, Fidelity.

Your pension is likely to be considered along with your other assets when financial settlements are worked out as part of your divorce or dissolution.

If you die before taking your benefits, these will be paid to your beneficiaries based on the value of your pension account at the date of payment. 

As a UPP member, you are also provided with a generous level of life insurance cover at a rate of six times your base annual salary, giving valuable comfort and security for your dependants. 

Please see the your benefits and Expression of Wish pages for more details about death benefits and how to have your say in who they go to.