Everyone who pays into the Whitbread Pension Plan gets an extra payment from Whitbread, so the money in your pot builds up faster than you might think. If you earn enough to pay tax, you’ll get some of that back from the government, which helps to reduce the cost. You might also be able to use Pension Exchange, which makes the cost of being in the Plan even lower.
The Whitbread Pension Plan has two sections
There are two sections within the Whitbread Pension Plan: the Auto-enrolment Section and the Pension Options Section. You can find out which one you are in by going to Dayforce and selecting the Benefits tab on your profile.
For both sections, Whitbread will contribute to your pension when you join the pension plan. However, the way we work out your payment in the Auto-enrolment Section is different from how it’s done if you join the Pension Options Section. You can see the difference in the table below.
Auto-enrolment Section
| Your contribution | Whitbread contribution | Total Contribution |
| 5% | 3% | 8% |
Your payments are based on everything you earn in a month between £520 and £4,189 (known as your qualifying earnings). This includes any overtime and bonus you earn.
If you’re in the Auto-enrolment Section, you can pay in more by joining the Pension Options Section – and you’ll get death and ill-health benefits that you won’t get in the Auto-enrolment Section.
Pension Options Section
| Your contribution | Whitbread contribution | Total Contribution |
| 5% | 5% | 10% |
| 6% | 6% | 12% |
| 7% | 7% | 14% |
| 8% | 8% | 16% |
| 9% | 9% | 18% |
| 10% | 10% | 20% |
Your payments are based on your basic pay, which doesn’t include any bonus or overtime.
In the Pension Options Section, you can pay between 5% and 10% of your basic pay, and Whitbread will pay in the same as you. So, if you choose 5%, Whitbread will also pay in 5%.
If you need to, you can drop down to a lower contribution rate, paying less, but you can’t move back into the Auto-enrolment Section.
How to join the Pension Options Section
If you are currently in the Auto-enrolment Section and wish to join the Pension Options Section, you can do this by going to Dayforce and selecting the Benefits tab on your profile.
Tax relief
When you save into your Whitbread pension the government helps by giving you tax relief. This means you pay less income tax than you would otherwise have done.
Your pension contributions are automatically taken from your pay before income tax is deducted. Because of this:
- You pay less income tax
- You don’t need to claim tax relief yourself
If you’re a basic rate taxpayer, your savings into your pension will benefit from 20% in tax relief. This means that if you put £100 into your pension, your tax relief will be £20, so the actual cost to you will be £80. And if you’re a higher or additional rate taxpayer, your tax relief could be more.
There is a limit on how much you can save into a pension each year before you pay a tax charge. This is known as the annual allowance, which is set by the government and is currently £60,000 a year for most people. However, if you’re a very high earner (with an income over £200,000 a year) or you’ve already taken some of your pension savings flexibly, your annual allowance could be as low as £10,000. Find out more about tax on your private pension contributions.
The £10,000 annual allowance doesn’t apply to everyone. If you think it may apply to you, it’s possible to limit contributions to £10,000 by completing a form in Dayforce.
Pension Exchange
Pension Exchange is a way of helping you take home more money by reducing how much National Insurance you pay.
Under Pension Exchange, instead of you making direct contributions to your pension, Whitbread contributes an amount equal to what you would have paid into your pension. This is in addition to the normal employer contribution.
As you’re not making a direct contribution yourself, Whitbread reduces your pay by the amount you would have contributed. This results in you paying lower National Insurance contributions, which means your take-home pay is higher.
Whitbread will automatically apply Pension Exchange to as many people as possible. However, sometimes this won’t be possible (if, for example, Pension Exchange reduces your pay below the National Living/Minimum Wage). We’ll check this every time you get paid. If we can’t apply Pension Exchange, then we’ll take your pension contribution direct from your pay in that pay period. This could change from one pay period to the next.
You can find out more about Pension Exchange in the FAQs on SharePoint.
Changing your pension payments
If you are in the Pension Options Section, you can change how much you pay into the scheme by logging in to Dayforce and selecting the Benefits tab on your profile.
You can choose a different contribution rate whenever you like, but you can’t choose to go back into the Auto-enrolment Section.
If you change your contribution rate, you’ll see the change take effect in the following month. For example, if you make a change in January, the change will be in your February pay.
Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs)
You can also make top‑up payments called Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs). You can set these up as regular payments or make a one‑off contribution directly from your pay. If you pay tax, you’ll usually receive tax relief on your AVCs, but Whitbread won’t add any extra contributions to these payments.
If you’re considering paying more into your pension, it may be worth increasing your contribution rate instead. This is because you’ll receive additional contributions from Whitbread when you increase your rate, whereas AVCs do not attract extra contributions from Whitbread.
To make Additional Voluntary Contributions, log in to Dayforce and select the Benefits tab on your profile.
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Guidance and Advice
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MoneyHelper
If you’re looking for help with pensions, a good place to start is MoneyHelper, the government-backed free guidance service. The MoneyHelper service won't tell you what you should do, but they'll provide you with information to help you understand your options.
Contact an adviser
For advice about what’s best for you, please contact your financial adviser. If you don’t have an adviser MoneyHelper provides up-to-date resources to help you find regulated advisers. Advisers may charge for their advice, but there are usually a number of way to pay.