Occupational pension schemes

Guernsey providers are well placed to provide retirement benefits solutions to meet group or company objectives. These typically involve the administration of a company pension for the benefit of its staff.

International pension plans

International pension plans (IPPs) allow international organisations to have a single pension plan for employees working in many different countries.

They offer globally mobile employees, and staff in locations where no suitable solution exists, a flexible and multi-national pension plan which caters for their retirement objectives while overseas.

The rules of an IPP are highly flexible, and may be customised to mirror existing schemes:

• As the assets are held in a fiduciary capacity they offer off-balance sheet segregation of assets for the corporate
• The assets in the plan grow free of Guernsey taxation
• Plan proceeds are paid gross to members and are not liable to Guernsey tax (unless payable to a Guernsey resident)
• Assets are not subject to the pension lifetime allowance nor the annual allowance limits in the UK
• IPPs may also be used to pay end of service gratuities, which are often required to be paid to employees in the Middle East on their leaving service

International savings plans

There is a growing trend for employers with global workforces to create international savings plans (ISPs) as short or long-term savings vehicles with the objective of offering an efficient savings facility, rather than a retirement facility.

While the rules of an ISP usually provide that employees receive a cash lump sum on the termination of their contract, the rules of an ISP created in Guernsey can be highly flexible and tailored to the needs of the employer and employees.

Our international pension and savings plan brochure goes into further detail on Guernsey's expertise in this area.