Automatic enrolment

What automatic enrolment is

All employers are required by law to provide a pension scheme for their employees. For most employees, if the employee is in the scheme, the employer must also pay into it.

This is to make sure people have a chance to save for retirement.

Unilever uses the defined contribution section of the Unilever UK Pension Fund (the Fund) for automatic enrolment. Saving into the defined contribution section gives you a pot of money that’s invested to help it grow over time. When you retire, you can use this money to give yourself an income.

Unilever will automatically enrol you in the Fund when you join the Company.

Unilever may also need to re-enrol you at regular intervals, normally every 3 years, if you are not saving for pension. The last re-enrolment exercise happened in May 2022. The next re-enrolment exercise will happen on 1 May 2025.

• You do not need to pay anything from your salary when you are enrolled in the Fund. Unilever will pay into the Fund for you. This comes from your Benefits Envelope.

When this happens, the extra taxable pay you get from your Benefits Envelope will go down.

Who Unilever must automatically enrol

You will be automatically enrolled into the Fund if:

• You are not already an active member of the Fund,

and

• You are aged 22 or more but less than State Pension age,
• You are working or ordinarily work in the UK,
• You earn more than £833 per month (£10,000 a year)

When you are enrolled into the Fund, the amount that Unilever pays into the Fund will be equal to 15% of your pensionable earnings. The amount comes from your Benefits Envelope. Your pensionable earnings are your basic pay and for some people, other allowances.

15% is the contribution level that is set in the rules of the Fund. It was set at 15% to provide a good level of saving towards retirement for most people. You can choose to save more or less than this by completing this online form. The minimum you can save each month is 11%.

Once you are enrolled, you have 3 options. Read about these under ‘Your options when you are automatically enrolled’.

You will not be automatically enrolled if

• You are already saving into the Fund 
• You have told Unilever that you have lifetime allowance tax protection that you might lose if we re-enrol you 
• You opted out of the Fund in the last 12 months
• You do not meet the age or earnings conditions explained above

What happens if you used to be in the DB Career Average Plan

If you joined Unilever before 1 October 2021 you may have built up pension in the DB Career Average Plan. This is the defined benefit section of the Fund.

You may still be able to rejoin the DB Career Average plan at the next Annual Renewal in July. You will be told more about this in July.

How saving for pension will affect your take-home pay when you are automatically re-enrolled

When you are re-enrolled into the Fund, the amount that Unilever pays into the Fund will be equal to 15% of your pensionable earnings. This amount comes from your Benefits Envelope, so the amount you get as extra taxable pay will go down.

For most people, 15% from your Benefits Envelope paid into the Fund will mean you get about 10% less in your take home pay. The figures are different because you do not pay tax and National Insurance on the money that goes into your pension.

The table below shows roughly how monthly take home pay will typically change for someone who is re-enrolled. It assumes you only receive your pensionable earnings and Benefits Envelope, and no other allowances. It also assumes you have no other pay or income that you get taxed on, and that you get the first £1,050 a month tax-free (the standard personal allowance). Use this table to get an idea of how your take-home pay could be affected.

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The next table compares:

• The monthly reduction in take-home pay for different salaries if you are re-enrolled, and
• What amount gets paid to your pension if you are re-enrolled

The figures are different because you do not pay tax and National Insurance on the money that goes into your pension. It assumes you only receive your pensionable earnings and Benefits Envelope, and no other allowances. It also assumes you have no other pay or income that you get taxed on, and that you get the first £1,050 a month tax-free (the standard personal allowance).

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Your options when you are auto-enrolled

We will write to you to tell you if you are being automatically re-enrolled. If so, you will be re-enrolled into the defined contribution section of the Fund on the 1 May 2025.

You will then have 3 options. You can:

What happens if you decide to opt out later on

You can opt out of saving into the Fund at any time.

If you do, you will get all of your Benefits Envelope as extra taxable pay.

To opt out, you must send us an Opt-out form and email it to ExpertPensions.Team@unilever.com. Once we have received it you will be opted out from the Fund from the 1st of the next month. You will also receive your full Benefits Envelope as extra taxable pay from the same month.

Any money saved into the Fund before you opt-out will continue to be invested and will be available to you for your retirement. You cannot take this money out of the Fund before you are 55 but you can transfer it to another pension scheme.