Benefit Statement | SEI Master Trust

Your benefit statement shows you how much you’ve already saved in your pension account and what you might have when you want to retire. It’s a really useful document to help you plan for your future. You should have received an email containing your annual benefit statement and video.

So you can make the most of your benefit statement, here’s a click through breakdown explaining what’s inside.

The assumptions we used to calculate your benefit statement for 2024

The assumptions we used

These are the assumptions we’ve made to give you an idea of how much your pension account could be worth at the date you told us you plan to retire.

Inflation is 2.5% per year. If you’re still working and paying into your account then we’ve assumed that pensionable salary will increase in line with retail price inflation, which is assumed to be 2.5% per year. This means that, in real terms, your earnings are assumed to remain at today’s level. It should be noted that, on average, earnings have in the past grown faster than prices in the longer term, although the difference varies significantly between members.
If you’re not currently paying in to your account, we’ve assumed that no further contributions are paid to your account.

Otherwise we’ve assumed that you keep paying contributions as a member of SEI until your target retirement date. In doing this, we’ve assumed that you continue to contribute at the percentage rate(s) currently in force. Where contributions are paid as a percentage of salary, and because salary is assumed to increase in line with inflation, this means we have assumed that contributions will increase on the same basis and therefore remain at today’s level in real terms.

Any extra payments that you are making are assumed to be paid at a fixed rate and not a percentage of your salary. We have also assumed that the amount of extra payments you are paying will not increase in line with your earnings.
SEI continues to be a registered pension scheme.
Your benefits are not subject to an outstanding pension sharing order or earmarking/pension attachment order.

Calculating yearly retirement income

In working out the yearly income your personal account could get you, we have assumed:

An annuity rate (cost of buying each £1 per year of pension) based on your individual target retirement date, sex and date of birth.
The pension you buy doesn’t increase in payment.
The pension will be payable monthly.
The pension will be payable for the rest of your life, for a minimum of five years.
The pension doesn’t pay a pension to anyone else when you die.
That you don’t take any money from your pension account as tax-free cash when you take your benefits. If you decide to take tax-free cash, your annuity will be smaller.

For the purposes of any drawdown illustration provided, we have assumed:

Inflation is 2.5%.
An investment growth based on the funds you are currently invested in.
That your drawdown income increases each year in line with inflation.

We have changed the way we calculate the amount you may receive as an annual pension since last year. You may see a significant difference when comparing this figure to the one shown in previous benefit statements because of these changes.

The previous illustration assumed:

The pension you bought would increase annually in line with increases in inflation (the Retail Prices Index), assumed to be 2.5% per year, whereas this year we’ve assumed the pension you buy doesn’t increase in payment.
50% of the pension would continue to be paid to a person who is three years older than you (if you are a woman) or three years younger than you (if you are a man) on your death, whereas this year we’ve assumed the pension doesn’t pay a pension to anyone else when you die.

For the purposes of any drawdown illustration provided, last year we assumed:

An investment growth of the component funds of the Default Investment Option, whereas this year we’ve assumed an investment growth based on the funds you are currently invested in.

The amount of any pension payable under the Scheme for you will depend on considerations that may be different from any assumptions made by us. These include the actual performance of investments and the ultimate cost of securing an income (such as an annuity) at the time you take your benefits.

Important

The projected benefits shown in your benefit statement are for illustrative purposes only. They’re not a guarantee.

The Trustee has taken care to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in your benefit statement. However, the Trustee can only pay benefits in accordance with the rules of the Scheme. In the case of any discrepancy between the information in this benefit statement and the rules of the Scheme, the rules of the Scheme will determine your benefit entitlement.

The information provided in your benefit statement is not individual financial advice and should not be used as the only basis on which you take any decision regarding your future pension arrangements or any other financial commitment. The Trustee of SEI will always recommend that you seek independent financial advice when reviewing your pension arrangements or other financial commitments. Neither the Trustee, SEI, nor Capita can give you financial advice. Visit www.moneyhelper.org.uk for more details on where to find an independent financial adviser.