What is the difference between Standard and Plus Membership?
Patrick Carter, membership co-ordinator at IPSE, explains the benefits of the Standard and Plus memberships.
Pension and life assurance for the self-employed: What do IPSE members get?
- 23 Jul 2021
We want to make sure that your IPSE membership has you covered against every eventuality, in both the long and the short term. In addition to guaranteeing that you are protected against tax investigations into your past engagements and in the here-and-now, IPSE membership also allows you to plan and prepare for your future with our group pension and life assurance schemes. These optional membership benefits allow you to put aside cash for your retirement and, if the worst should happen, ensure that your family are taken care of financially.
We have agreed generous group rates for members to take advantage of with pension provider Aegon, and life assurance provider Legal & General. Here I hope to answer some of the questions the membership team are commonly asked about each.
Life assurance for the self-employed
As unpleasant as it is to discuss, having life assurance in place means that, if anything should happen to you, you know that your loved ones will be looked after. IPSE membership lets you choose cover from £50,000 to £250,000 (in increments of £50,000) and premiums start from as little as £2.65 per month.
The life assurance is really easy to setup from your member dashboard. Just click on ‘Your Life Assurance’ and you’ll have to provide a little bit of information and complete a medical questionnaire.
Depending on your answers, you may be required to undergo a further telephone assessment with Legal & General. In this case, your life assurance will be valid at the base rate until this takes place once you have completed the online application and setup a direct debit. You can then decide if you wish to continue should the price be increased.
Who will benefit from my life assurance?
The life assurance scheme allows you to specify a beneficiary or beneficiaries by completing an expression of wishes form, found on a link on the dashboard. If you have not setup an expression of wishes, the benefit will paid directly to your estate.
We make the claims process straightforward, when informed by your next of kin of your passing there is a very brief form to fill in and we, as the group policy holder, take care of the rest to make things as easy as possible at a difficult time. Payment is made quickly, usually within a couple of weeks of a completed claim being received.
Please note that the voluntary life assurance is in addition to the £5000 life assurance automatically provided to IPSE Plus members.
All you need to know about your IPSE pension
Saving for your future can be difficult and often especially so in the unpredictable world of self-employment. The IPSE pension scheme allows you to setup a monthly direct debit to automate your savings. IPSE processes this payment and then the funds appear in your Aegon account the following month.
You can choose to make the payments from either your business or personal account and if you want them to be classified as employee contributions please let us know so that we can ensure that the relevant tax relief is applied.
The IPSE pension scheme is a self-invested personal pension (SIPP) which means you can take full control of what your pension is invested in although you do not have to do this, the default fund selection has seen fairly decent and stable recent returns. And with a negotiated rate of just 0.23% on the default fund it’s also incredibly competitive.
You can even make ad hoc top ups to your pension so if you want to put a bit more aside at the end of the year or when you have a good month you can do. If it’s the end of the tax year just be sure to leave enough time for the payment to be processed as this can take a couple of weeks.
How do I sign up for my pension?
Signing up for the pension is easy via the IPSE dashboard. Just click manage my pension, fill in a few details and set up a direct debit and your pension will have been setup. We then pass these details to Aegon so that they can create an account for you. Further information about the pension can be found on the IPSE website here.
If you have any questions about the IPSE pension, life assurance, or any of your membership benefits please contact the membership team by email at [email protected] or by phone on 0208 897 9970.
Where can IPSE members find support?
Whether you are an experienced contractor or just starting out as a freelancer, your IPSE membership is a gateway to the best guidance, resources, and information to help you make your business a success.
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