Frequently Asked Questions

Whether or not you get a State pension depends on how many qualifying years of National Insurance (NI) contributions you have. To get any State pension at all, you must have a minimum of 10 qualifying years. To get the full State pension, you’ll need 35 qualifying years. If you’ve got between 10 and 35 qualifying years, you’ll get a proportionate amount of State pension. You can find out what your State pension entitlement is using the GOV.uk website.

If you have any questions about how your pension will be taxed, you need to contact HMRC directly by telephone on 0300 200 3300 or visit their website at www.GOV.uk/tax-help

You can write to them at:
Pay As You Earn and Self Assessment
HM Revenue and Customs
BX9 1AS
United Kingdom
You will need to quote the Scheme’s reference, which is: 663

If HMRC can’t help and you’re on a low income (up to about £380 a week), you may be able to get free professional tax advice. This includes help with filling in forms and what to do if you owe money to HMRC. Tax Aid is a charity that helps people on low incomes with tax issues. You can call them on 0345 120 3779 or visit their website at https://taxaid.org.uk

When you start to collect your pension, it will be paid as a monthly income, like your salary. WTW, the administrator for the Sainsbury’s Section, manages the pensioner payroll, so they will deduct tax before it’s paid into your account. If you think you’re paying the wrong amount of tax, you need to contact HMRC.

Yes, your deferred pension receives increases between when you left the Scheme (or stopped paying contributions) and when you start taking your pension. In retirement, your pension is reviewed each year in line with inflation and the Scheme Rules.

If you have to retire early because of ill health, you may be able to draw your pension early, at the Trustee’s discretion.

You may have chosen to pay extra contributions to top up your pension at retirement. These are called AVCs.

If you have AVCs, you can either take them as cash at retirement or use them to provide extra income. For example, you could buy an annuity (an insurance policy that pays an income), or keep the money invested and take money out of your pot as you need it. 

The MoneyHelper website has lots of information about your options for taking your AVCs. From the age of 50, you can also speak to a pensions expert at Pension Wise, a free government service that is run as part of the MoneyHelper website.

Please note, if you do want to set up an annuity, it can take up to three months to get everything arranged, so you should tell WTW your plans as soon as you can.

If the cash value of your Sainsbury’s pension is less than £10,000, you may be able to take it all as cash, even if you have pension savings in another scheme. If it’s worth more than £10,000, then you can only take it as cash if the combined value of all your pensions (excluding the State pension) is less than £30,000.

Yes, if you want to work beyond your normal retirement age, your pension will be increased because it will be paid to you over a shorter period of time.

Log in to My Pension to get a late retirement quotation.

Yes, you can retire any time from age 55. Your pension will be reduced if you take it early because it will be paid to you over a longer period of time.

Log in to My Pension to get an early retirement quotation.

Depending on your age, if you also have benefits in the Sainsbury’s Retirement Savings Plan (SRSP) and you’re planning to retire at 55, you may have to wait an extra two years to take your SRSP benefits. This is because the government will raise the minimum pension age (the earliest you can take your pension) to 57 from April 2028. However, this doesn’t affect members in the Sainsbury’s Section of the Sainsbury’s Pension Scheme. 

If you have any other pensions, either personal or workplace, you should check with your providers to see what rules apply to those benefits.

Your normal retirement age in the Sainsbury’s Section is age 65.

Yes, as long as you’re over 55.

You may have heard that the government has raised the minimum pension age (the earliest you can take your pension) to 57. However, this doesn’t affect members in the Sainsbury’s Section, because the law allows schemes that had a minimum age of 55 set out in their rules to continue to offer this as a ‘protected age’ to existing members. 

Depending on your age, if you also have benefits in the Sainsbury’s Retirement Savings Plan (SRSP) and you’re planning to retire at 55, you may have to wait an extra two years to take your SRSP benefits.

If you have any other pensions, either personal or workplace, you should check with your providers to see what rules apply to those benefits.

We work hard to make sure that you don’t have any reason to complain about the Scheme, but if you do have a complaint, please contact WTW, the administrator for the Sainsbury’s Section, in the first instance.

If WTW can’t resolve your issue, the Trustee has a formal process that you can use called the Internal Dispute Resolution Procedure (IDRP). WTW will send you the information you need for this.

It’s run by a trustee company, which has a board of directors who are responsible for making sure the Scheme is run in line with pensions legislation and the Scheme Rules. Some of the directors are selected by Sainsbury’s and some have been nominated by the Scheme’s members.

In 2018, the Sainsbury’s Pension Scheme merged with another scheme, the Home Retail Group Pension Scheme, after Sainsbury’s bought HRG, Argos’s parent company. This is why the Sainsbury’s Pension Scheme has two sections – the Sainsbury’s Section and the Argos Section.

In the sad event that you need to tell us about the death of one of our members, please contact WTW, the administrator for the Sainsbury’s Section. They will send you any paperwork that needs to be completed. Click here to see what benefits are available from the Scheme on the death of a member.

The Scheme pays a pension for life to its members, and if a member dies then their spouse will usually also get a pension. The amount of pension paid is based on the member’s salary and length of service in the Scheme at the time the Scheme closed to new contributions (in 2013), but it works a little differently for Cash Balance Section members.

You can get defined contribution (DC) pension schemes and defined benefit (DB) pension schemes. The Sainsbury’s Pension Scheme is a DB pension scheme. You might also be paying into the Sainsbury’s Retirement Savings Plan (SRSP), which is a DC pension scheme. This video explains the differences between DB and DC schemes.

You can also have a personal pension, which you pay into, but your employer doesn’t. This will usually be a DC pension.

Yes, you can exchange some of your pension for tax-free cash. Following recent changes to the Lifetime Allowance, most people will find the amount of tax-free cash they can take has been restricted to £268,275 unless they have some form of Lifetime Allowance protection. 

Log in to My Pension to see how much tax-free cash is available to you. 

If you exchange any of your pension for cash, this will reduce the amount of pension you get from the Scheme. If you log into My Pension and ask for a retirement quotation, you will be able to see how much monthly pension you’ll get if you take the maximum amount of tax-free cash. You’ll also be able to see how your pension changes if you take a cash sum that is less than the maximum available. 

Log in to My Pension to get a retirement quotation.

The Lifetime Allowance (LTA) is the total pension savings you can have without paying an extra tax charge. From April 2024 the LTA was abolished. At the same time, the maximum tax-free cash you can take at retirement was capped at £268,275 (or 25% of the last LTA of £1,073,100) – unless you have an earlier LTA protection (see below). 

The LTA was first introduced in 2006 and successive governments have raised or lowered it over that time. Members were able to avoid a tax charge by applying for ‘protection’ from HMRC. If you applied for protection when the LTA was higher than its final level of £1,073,100, you may be eligible to take a higher tax-free cash amount.

Contact WTW, the administrator for the Sainsbury’s Section.

The Trustee of the Sainsbury’s Pension Scheme has appointed The Tracing Group to carry out a member tracing exercise.

If you receive one of these letters, don’t be alarmed. It just means that some of your contact details may be missing or incomplete, so please don’t delay in responding to this request for information. The Tracing Group is carrying out this work on behalf of the Trustee.

Your pension benefits won’t be affected if you decide to wind down to retirement. You’ll need to speak to your line manager about reducing your working hours as there are certain criteria for this.

Pensions Dashboards are a government-backed initiative designed to help you find and view information about the pension you’ve built up during your working life. Nearly all UK pension schemes will be connected to the Pensions Dashboards, along with State Pension information. 

You’ll be able to use a secure government service to prove your identity and search for your pensions. You’ll then see a list of pensions found for you, including your State Pension.

Initially, you’ll use the government-backed MoneyHelper Dashboard to view your pensions. In future, other approved Dashboards may also become available. This may help you reconnect with pensions you’ve lost touch with and give you an estimate of the income you may receive when you retire.

You won’t be charged for using a Dashboard.

Pensions Dashboards are for anyone who has saved into a UK pension. They may help you find pensions you’ve forgotten about or reconnect you with schemes or providers which have changed administrator. 

Dashboards won’t show information about pensions already being paid to you. 

They’ll only show information about pensions you’ve built up in the UK, although you don’t need to live in the UK to access a Pensions Dashboard.

Pensions Dashboards will display information about: 

• defined benefit (DB) pensions, including what are sometimes called final salary pensions (like the Sainsbury’s Pension Scheme) 
• defined contribution (DC) workplace pensions (like the Sainsbury’s Retirement Savings Plan) 
• collective defined contribution (CDC) pensions (a new type of pension scheme only offered by a few companies) 
• personal pensions (such as SIPPS) 
• the State Pension. 

You’ll also see the total estimated income across all pensions shown on the Dashboard, and the ages at which different pensions are due to become payable. 

If you want more detailed information about any of your pensions, or a more up-to-date value, you’ll need to contact the pension scheme or provider.

You don’t have to take any action after viewing your information on a Pensions Dashboard. However, if you’re actively planning your retirement, you may wish to contact the scheme, provider or administrator for each pension to request a more accurate quotation of your benefits. 

You shouldn’t make any retirement decisions based only on the information shown on a Dashboard. Dashboards are designed to help you understand what pensions you may have and support you in seeking guidance or advice. 

You won’t be able to transfer your pensions or carry out transactions through a Dashboard, although this may change in future.

The first Dashboard to launch will be the government-backed MoneyHelper Dashboard. This is currently undergoing testing, but only for invited users. The access journey includes setting up, or signing in, to the new GOV.UK One Login identity service, which verifies some of the personal details used to search for your pensions. 

In future, other approved organisations such as banks, insurers and pension providers may also offer access to their own Dashboard free of charge. However all Dashboards will have to adhere to a set of design standards and protocols, which will include the member’s identity being verified by the GOV.UK One Login service.

The MoneyHelper Dashboard is currently expected to launch in the financial year 2027/28.

Your identity will need to be verified by the GOV.UK One Login service before you can search for pensions using a Dashboard. You may be asked to provide evidence, such as a passport or driving licence. If you’ve already registered with GOV.UK One Login, you won’t need to verify your identity again, unless you’d set up One Login for a different government service that had less stringent verification requirements than Pensions Dashboards. 

Your data will be transferred through secure, encrypted connections. It will only be sent to the Dashboard you’re using when you log on and ask it to search for your pensions. Pensions Dashboards aren’t available to the general population yet, but you don’t need to wait to look for pensions you may have forgotten about. National Pension Tracing Day takes place on the last Sunday in October every year, but you can look for pensions at any time.

The National Pension Tracing Day website (nationalpensiontracingday.co.uk) includes useful resources to help you get started, including: 

• The government’s existing service, which can help you find the contact details for pension schemes or providers 
• The Association of British Insurers’ list of pension providers which have been taken over or changed ownership, showing which company they’re now part of. 

Before the Dashboards are launched, it’s a good idea to tell your pension schemes or providers if you’ve changed your address or any other personal details e.g. email address and telephone number. They’ll only provide your pension information to a Dashboard if they’re confident it’s you asking for it. Keeping your details up to date will help them match you to your pensions when you use a Dashboard.