Local Government Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVC) Scheme

Key Features of the

Local Government Additional Voluntary

Contributions (AVC) Scheme

for Scotland and Northern Ireland

Please read this document along with your personal illustration (if you have one)

before you decide to buy this plan. It’s important you understand how the Local

Government AVC Scheme works, the benefits and associated risks.

IMl+J

Pru

part of M&G pie

The Financial Conduct Authority is a financial services regulator. It requires us, Prudential, to give you this important

information to help you decide whether our Local Government AVC Scheme is right for you. You should read this

document carefully so that you understand what you are buying, and then keep it safe for future reference.

Contents

About the Local Government

AVC Scheme 3

Its aims 3

Your commitment 3

Risks 3

Other documents you should read

This document gives you key information about the Prudential Local Government AVC Scheme. If you want

more detail on specific points, please read the following documents. We have highlighted when they are

relevant throughout this document.

They are all available on our website at pru.co.uk/localgov or direct from us. Our contact details are on the

last page.

• Fund Guide

This explains your investment choices.

• Your With-Profits Plan – a guide to how we manage the Fund

This provides information on how our With-Profits Fund works, and our current approach to managing it.

• Market Value Reduction – A clear explanation

This explains what a Market Value Reduction is, together with information about why and when these

may apply.

Is the Local Government AVC Scheme

right for me?

If you’re a member of your Local Government pension

scheme and want to make additional saving towards your

future retirement benefits, it might be right for you.

Are other options available?

You have a number of options to increase your benefits

within the main Local Government pension scheme and you

should contact the scheme administrator for more details.

If you’re not sure whether the Local Government

AVC Scheme is right for you, please speak to a financial

adviser. If you don’t have one, you can find an adviser

at pru.co.uk/find-an-adviser.

Is this a stakeholder pension?

No, the Government has set minimum requirements

that companies must meet for a stakeholder pension.

These cover things like payments, charges and terms

and conditions. Charges for the plan may be higher

than for a stakeholder pension. A stakeholder pension

may meet your needs as well as this plan, and these are

widely available.

How flexible is it?

You can increase, reduce or stop your payments at any

time. You can re-start payments whenever you wish to.

If you leave the main Local Government pension scheme

and then return to it you can also restart AVC payments.

Please read the section ‘What if I stop making payments?’

for more information about this.

You can’t cancel your plan and receive a refund. Once

you’ve paid money in, you can only access it as pension

benefits – for more information please read the section

‘When can I take my benefits?’.

If you wish, you can continue contributing to the AVC

until you retire, leave service or until the eve of your 75th

birthday if earlier. If you change employer, you may need

to start a new AVC plan.

Members in Scotland only

If you take a cash withdrawal from your AVC you can

make further payments after making your withdrawal.

However, your future payments will be subject to the

Money Purchase Annual Allowance (MPAA). For further

details on the MPAA see the section ‘What about tax?’.

If you withdraw all your AVC savings from your plan you

will need to begin a new plan for any future payments.

Can I combine benefits?

If you change Local Government employment and choose

to combine your main scheme benefits you may need to

combine your AVC. This will normally result in a new AVC

plan being created. The new plan will be subject to the

2015 scheme rules which came into effect on

1 April 2015.

To understand more about how this would impact you

please speak to your scheme administrator.

What other benefits can I choose?

You can use AVCs to provide optional life cover for

yourself, your spouse or any dependants. A ‘dependant’

includes any surviving adult including spouse, civil partner

and nominated partner.

The cost of the cover will increase every three years for

the level of cover selected.

Members whose AVC plan commenced before

1 April 2015

Your life cover will normally end at age 65. Cover will end

sooner if you stop making payments, leave service/ office

or when you retire.

Members whose AVC plan commenced on or after

1 April 2015

Your life cover will normally end when you reach your

normal pension age under the 2015 Scheme. This will

be the date you reach your State Pension Age or age

65 if earlier. Cover will end sooner if you stop making

payments, leave service/office or when you retire.

Questions & Answers

How much can I pay into my plan?

You can pay in up to 100% of your pensionable pay

(subject to other deductions made by your employer).

However, for all members the maximum tax relief you can

receive on your total payments to this AVC, the main Local

Government pension scheme and any other pensions you

might have is limited to 100% of your salary.

This may be further restricted if you are subject to

the Money Purchase Annual Allowance, or your total

contribution is greater than the Annual Allowance. For

more information about this, please read the section

‘What about tax?’.

If your AVC plan operates on a salary sacrifice shared

cost basis, it means you agree with your employer to

reduce your pay in return for exactly the same amount of

AVC payments.

If you pay Salary Sacrifice Shared Cost AVC (SSSCAVC)

payments, your salary sacrifice payments cannot cause

your pay to fall below the National Minimum Wage/

National Living Wage. Please ask your employer for

further information.

Payments are deducted from your salary and passed to

Prudential to be invested in your plan or used to purchase

life cover.

Can I transfer money in?

Yes, you might be able to transfer funds from other

pensions into your AVC. You should get in touch with

the main scheme administrator who can give you more

information about this.

Your previous plan might have valuable guarantees you’d

lose if you transfer your pension pot. We recommend you

speak to a financial adviser before you make a decision.

Where are my payments invested?

Different funds offer different types of investment. For

example, some only invest in property, others invest

directly in the stock market, and others invest in a wide

range of assets. Each fund has its own level of potential

reward and risk. Usually, funds with more potential for

growth carry more risk.

You choose which funds you would like to invest your

money in, from the fund range available. You can invest in

more than one fund at a time, up to a maximum of 20 and

we use your money to buy units in those funds.

We may delay the buying, selling and switching to or

from certain funds. These delays will only apply in certain

circumstances and if this applies to you, we’ll let you know.

For more information, please read your Fund Guide.

Your financial adviser, if you have one, can give you details

about the funds before you choose where to invest. You

can also refer to your Fund Guide.

Unit-linked funds

Payments into unit-linked funds will buy units in the

chosen funds. The price of each unit depends on the value

of the investment in the fund and also whether more

money is going into or out of the fund. We work out the

value of your plan based on the total number of units you

have in each fund. So, if the unit prices rise or fall, so will

your plan value. Money in the various funds is invested in a

wide range of shares, corporate bonds, government stocks

and commercial property in the UK and abroad.

How unit-linked funds invest

Some of the Prudential funds listed in your Fund Guide

may invest in ‘underlying’ funds or other investment

vehicles. Have a look at a fund’s objective and that will tell

you where it invests – including if that’s in an underlying

fund or funds.

If the Prudential fund is investing in just one underlying

fund then it’s what’s known as a ‘mirror’ fund, as the

performance of the Prudential fund broadly aims to reflect

the performance of the underlying fund it invests in. The

performance of our Prudential fund, compared to what

it’s invested in won’t be exactly the same. The differences

between the underlying fund and our fund can be due to:

• additional charges,

• cash management (needed to help people to enter and

leave our fund when they want),

• tax,

• timing of investments (this is known as a fund’s

dealing cycle, it varies between managers and can be

several days).

With-Profits Funds

We work out the value of With-Profits investments

differently. A With-Profits investment is one that aims to

smooth some of the short term highs and lows of the fund

over the period of time that you hold the plan. So, in theory

you should see a steadier return year on year, rather than

watching the value of your Plan fully reflect the rise and

fall in investment markets.

Your payments are pooled with those of other Prudential

With-Profits investors to form a fund. We invest this

fund in a wide range of investments including company

shares, property, Government bonds, company bonds and

cash deposits.

This is not guaranteed and you must consider that the

value of your investment can go down as well as up so

you might get back less than you put in.

We allocate your share of the profits of the fund by adding

bonuses. There are currently two types of bonus:

• regular, which we add throughout each year. We can

change the rate of regular bonus at anytime without

telling you beforehand, although once added these

bonuses are guaranteed on death and at your selected

retirement age,

• final, which we may pay when you take money out of

the With-Profits Fund, although this may vary and is not

guaranteed. The final bonus can be reduced or removed

at any time, without warning.

You can get further information about this from Your

With-Profits Plan – a guide to how we manage

the Fund.

What’s a Market Value Reduction (MVR)?

If you take money out of the With-Profits Fund, we

may reduce the value of your fund if the value of the

underlying assets is less than the value of your plan

including all bonuses. This would also apply if the scheme

administrator of your plan transferred part, or all, of

the scheme.

This reduction is known as a Market Value Reduction

(MVR). It is designed to protect investors who are not

taking their money out and its application means that you

get a return based on the earnings of the With-Profits

Fund over the period your payments have been invested.

We apply any MVR to your plan’s value including regular

and final bonuses. Please read Your With-Profits Plan – a

guide to how we manage the Fund for more information

on bonuses.

An MVR will reduce the amount payable on full or partial

withdrawals, and if investment returns have been low,

you may even get back less than you have invested in

your plan.

We guarantee not to apply an MVR at your AVC Normal

Pension Age or on any claims due to death.

Our current practice on applying an MVR

We may apply a Market Value Reduction to full or partial

withdrawals, including those arising from switches or

transfers, from all investments that have been running for

less than five years.

For investments that have been running for longer periods,

we would consider applying an MVR when a withdrawal

results in the total amount paid out, including any other

payments in the previous 12 months, exceeding £25,000.

We would only apply an MVR to the withdrawal

amount in excess of £25,000 in these circumstances.

As plans approach the AVC Normal Pension Age, the

size of any MVR that would apply could be expected to

reduce gradually.

We reserve the right to change our current practice on

Market Value Reductions at any time, without prior notice,

and this would apply to existing plans and any new plans

or top-ups.

Examples of reasons for a change would include

significant changes in the investment market or

because the number of people moving out of the fund

increases substantially.

Can I change my investments?

Yes, you can switch your money between funds at any

time and you can also change where you’d like any future

payments to be invested. We don’t currently charge you

for this but if this changes in the future we’ll let you know.

We may delay the buying, selling and switching to or

from certain funds. These delays will only apply in certain

circumstances and if this applies to you, we’ll let you know.

For more information, please read your Fund Guide.

We may apply a Market Value Reduction if you switch

money out of our With-Profits Fund. For more information

please read the section ‘What’s a Market Value Reduction?’.

What if I stop making payments?

You can stop paying or take a payment break and restart

later if your circumstances change. This will reduce your

future benefits.

Any life cover will cease when regular payments stop.

Please remember that we’ll keep taking our charges, even

if you stop your regular payments. Charges and costs may

vary in the future and may be higher than they are now.

What happens if I leave service?

If you leave the Local Government, your payments will

stop and your AVC will remain invested. Any charges and

costs will continue to be taken until you take your benefits.

If you are making any payments for additional life cover,

this cover will stop when you leave.

You might be able to transfer your plan to another

registered pension scheme – please read the next section

for more information about this.

Where your employer has provided you with a refund of

main scheme payments, your AVC account will normally

also be refunded. This refund is subject to a statutory

income tax deduction, currently 20% on any refund up to

£20,000 and 50% on any excess. Please speak to your

scheme administrator for more information.

We may apply an MVR to any monies taken out of the

With-Profits Fund. Please refer to the section, ‘What’s a

Market Value Reduction?’.

If you subsequently rejoin the main scheme you can

normally restart AVC payments but you might have to

start a new plan. Your scheme administrator will give you

more information about this.

Can I transfer money out?

Yes, you can transfer your pension pot to another

registered pension scheme, or qualifying recognised

overseas scheme at any time up to age 75.

You’ll need to have stopped paying into your plan and not

previously used any of your AVC pension pot to buy an

annuity or pension from your scheme. We do not charge

you for transferring to a new arrangement.

We may apply a Market Value Reduction if you transfer

money out of our With-Profits Fund. For more information

about this, please read the section ‘What’s a Market

Value Reduction?’.

To find more information on this subject, we recommend

you speak to a financial adviser.

What are the charges and costs?

Charges and costs are deducted for managing your plan

and the underlying investments. The amount we charge

depends on the funds you invest in.

Please remember that we’ll keep taking our charges, even

if you stop your payments. Charges and costs may vary

in the future and may be higher than they are now. More

information on the charges and costs can be found in the

Fund Guide.

Annual Management Charge

For unit-linked funds, we deduct an Annual Management

Charge from the funds and this charge is calculated daily

and taken monthly from your plan by cancelling units.

The amount of charge we deduct depends on the funds

you choose to invest in and the amount of your original

investment. For more information, please read your

Fund Guide.

We calculate and take the charge for With-Profits

funds differently.

With-Profits Fund annual charge

For With-Profits Funds, there are various costs involved

with setting up and managing your policy. We deduct

a charge from the With-Profits Fund each year to cover

these costs.

The charge isn’t explicit so you’ll not see it being taken

from your policy. It’s deducted from the underlying With-

Profits Fund and is already taken into account when

we calculate bonus rates for our With-Profits Fund.

The With-Profits Fund’s annual charge depends on the

performance of the With-Profits Fund, in particular the

investment return and our expenses. If, for example, over

time investment returns are higher then we’d expect to

increase the charges and if investment returns are lower

we’d expect to reduce the charges.

The charge will depend on the investment returns

achieved and the expenses incurred by the Fund (higher

investment returns will be associated with a higher charge

and lower investment returns will be associated with a

lower charge). The charge is currently expected to be

approximately 0.76% a year if the investment return in the

With-Profits Fund is 5% a year (gross of tax).

More information on the operation of the With-Profits

Funds is explained in Your With-Profits Plan – a guide to

how we manage the Fund.

Further costs incurred by the funds

In addition to our charges, there may be further costs

incurred, which can vary over time. Where these are

applicable, they are paid for by the relevant fund and will

impact on its overall performance.

For more information on these further costs, please look at

the current Fund Guide for this product.

With-Profits charge for guarantees

There is a charge to pay for all the guarantees the With-

Profits Fund supports. We guarantee not to apply a

Market Value Reduction (MVR) in certain circumstances,

e.g. when payments are made because of death or at your

AVC Normal Pension Age.

Our current practice (which is not guaranteed) may include

additional circumstances when an MVR is not applied.

Please see the section ‘What’s a Market Value Reduction?’

for more details. You won’t see this charge on your annual

statement because we take it by adjusting regular and

final bonuses.

For applications received on or after 15 March 2019, the

total deduction for guarantee charges over the lifetime of

your plan is not currently more than 4% of any payment

made from the fund.

We’ll review the amount of the charge from time to

time. Charges may vary if, for example, the long term

mix or type of assets held within the With-Profits Fund

is changed.

For more information about charges, please read Your

With-Profits Plan – a guide to how we manage

the Fund.

What might I get back?

The size of your AVC pension pot will depend on many

factors, including the following:

• the amount that has been paid in,

• how long you’ve been making payments,

• the performance of the fund(s) you’ve chosen,

• the amount of charges,

• how long money is invested,

• the effect of inflation,

• how you choose to take your benefits,

• tax rules, and

• the level of bonuses which are added to your AVC if you

are invested in the With-Profits Fund.

When can I take my benefits?

You can start taking your benefits from the age of 55,

even if you’re still working. You might be able to take your

benefits earlier than that if you’re in ill health.

The minimum age from which you can access your

personal or occupational pension will increase from 55 to

57 on 6 April 2028, unless you have a protected pension

age. State Pension age will increase from age 66 to age

67 for males and females between 6 April 2026 and 5

April 2028. These ages may change in future.

Under the terms of this contract, you’ll need to take your

benefits by age 75.

Members in Northern Ireland

The rules of your scheme mean you are unable to

take your AVC benefits before you draw your main

LGPS benefits.

Members in Scotland

You are normally only able to take your AVC benefits

at the same time as you draw your main LGPS

benefits. However, an exception applies to this rule:

Your Scheme will allow you to take one or more cash

withdrawals from your AVC from age 55, before

taking your main scheme benefits.

If benefits are taken any time other than your AVC Normal

Pension Age or on your death, a Market Value Reduction

may apply to money taken out of our With-Profits Fund.

What choices will I have when I take

my benefits?

You’ve got different options to choose from when it comes

to taking your benefits. These options are subject to the

rules of your scheme. We’ll contact you as you approach

retirement to let you know which of these options we may

be able to offer you.

Depending on your choices, you might need to move your

pot to another pension to access some of these options or

to access them when you prefer.

Flexible cash or income (also known as drawdown)

You can take out up to 25% of the money moved into your

flexible cash or income plan, in cash, tax-free. You’ll need

to do this at the start. You can then dip into the rest as and

when you like. You can also set up a regular income with

this option. Any money you take after the first 25% may

be subject to income tax.

A guaranteed income for life (also known as an annuity)

You can use your plan to buy an income for life. It pays you

an income (a bit like a salary) and is guaranteed for life. These

payments may be subject to income tax. In most cases

you can take up to 25% of the money you move into your

guaranteed income for life, in cash, tax-free. You’ll need to do

this at the start and you need to take the rest as an income.

Cash in your plan all at once

You can take your whole plan in one go, as a lump sum.

Normally the first 25% is tax-free, but on the remainder,

you could lose 20%, 40% or even 45% to income tax, if it

pushes you into a higher tax bracket (especially if you’re

still earning). You’ll need to plan how you provide an

income for the rest of your life.

Take cash in stages

You can leave your money in your plan and take out cash

lump sums whenever you need to – until it’s all gone, or

you decide to do something else with what’s left. You

decide when and how much to take out. Every time you

take money from your plan, the first 25% is usually tax

free and the remainder may be subject to income tax.

Take more than one option

You don’t have to choose one option – you can take a

combination of some or all of them over time, even if

you’ve only got one pension pot.

Taking your AVC plan as cash tax free

Your Local Government AVC Scheme allows you to take

all or part of your AVC plan as a tax free cash lump sum as

long as you take it at the same time as your main scheme

benefits and it does not exceed 25% of the combined

value of your plan and your main scheme benefits.

This must also fall within the maximum permitted by

HMRC rules.

Members in Scotland only

From normal minimum pension age (currently age 55)

you are able to make one or more cash withdrawals

from your AVC. 25% of each withdrawal is paid free

of tax. The remainder of the payment is added to your

income and taxed accordingly. You are normally able

to make a cash withdrawal whenever you like and can

use the money for any purpose you like.

However, you are unable to request a cash

withdrawal at the same time as you draw main LGPS

benefits. This is because you will potentially be able

to take all of your AVC as a completely tax-free lump

sum at that time.

If you do decide to take cash lump sums out of

your AVC, Prudential applies a £2,000 minimum to

withdrawals and after any are taken you must leave a

total of at least £5,000 in your fund.

Whatever you decide to do with your pension savings –

you don’t have to stay with us. You should shop around

and depending on the choices you make, you may find

something more appropriate elsewhere, with alternative

features, investment options or charges.

Any additional life cover stops at your AVC Normal

Pension Age, or earlier if you leave your employer or

payments into the pot are stopped.

Where can I get guidance about what to

do with my pension?

General guidance and information on all aspects of

pensions is available from MoneyHelper.

MoneyHelper Pensions Guidance

Money and Pensions Service

120 Holborn

London

EC1N 2TD

Telephone: 0800 011 3797

Website: Moneyhelper.org.uk/en/pensions-and-retirement

For people over 50, Pension Wise is also available. This

Government service from MoneyHelper offers guidance

to people with personal or workplace pensions on all the

options available for their pension savings. You can have a

free consultation online, over the phone and face to face.

Telephone: 0800 280 8880

Website: moneyhelper.org.uk/pensionwise

These services are free and impartial and using them

won’t affect your legal rights

What about tax?

Your AVC payments are deducted from your salary before

tax and passed to Prudential for investment. This means

if you normally pay tax you’ll qualify for immediate tax

savings on your payments.

The Government has introduced arrangements for

individuals who are not paying tax on their earnings to

claim tax relief on their employee contributions to the

scheme. This applies to contributions paid from 6 April

2024 onwards. You will need to contact HMRC to arrange

this tax rebate. Claims will be processed in the tax year

following the year claimed, i.e. claims for the current tax

year would be processed by HMRC in the next tax year.

Salary Sacrifice Shared Cost AVCs

If your AVC plan operates on a salary sacrifice shared

cost basis, it means you agree with your employer to

reduce your pay in return for exactly the same amount of

AVC payments. As a result it lowers your earnings which

means you pay less tax and National Insurance, subject to

your personal circumstances. The pay you sacrifice is paid

into your AVC pot by your employer.

Also, you are required to make a personal payment of £1

gross each time you save into your AVC pot. This works

out to £0.80 net for a basic rate taxpayer, or £0.60 net for

40% taxpayer. This is also taken from your pay and will be

paid into your pot. You will normally also make tax, but not

National Insurance savings, on this personal payment. Please

note that tax rules and legislation may change in the future.

If you don’t pay tax, you can claim tax relief on the £1

personal payment but you won’t benefit from tax savings

on the salary you exchange for pension contributions by

your employer.

There may be some members for whom Salary Sacrifice

Shared Cost AVCs are not suitable or possible. Your

employer will be able to provide you with further details of

how salary sacrifice works in their scheme.

For more information on shared cost salary sacrifice,

please speak to your scheme administrator.

Annual Allowance

The Annual Allowance is a limit to the total amount of

payments that can be paid to defined contribution pension

schemes and the total amount of benefits that you can

build up in defined benefit pension schemes each year, for

tax relief purposes.

Money Purchase Annual Allowance

Taking money out of your pension will sometimes lower

the amount you can pay into all the pensions you may have

while still benefitting from tax relief. This limit is called the

Money Purchase Annual Allowance (MPAA). Your pension

scheme administrator or provider will have told you if you

are subject to the MPAA at the time they started to pay you.

Members in Scotland

If you take a cash withdrawal from your AVC you will

be subject to the MPAA from that point and each

subsequent tax year. This means that your future

payments to the Local Government AVC Scheme

and payments paid by or for you to any other money

purchase pension scheme will be subject to a tax

charge if they exceed this limit.

Lump Sum Allowances

From 6 April 2024 the lifetime allowance was replaced by

two new allowances.

The Lump Sum Allowance (LSA)

This is a limit on the amount of tax free lump sums that

can be taken from pension schemes.

Lump Sum and Death Benefit Allowance (LSDBA)

This is a limit on the amount of lump sum death benefits

and serious ill health lump sums that can be paid

without tax.

Where the amount exceeds either of these allowances,

income tax may be payable on the excess.

Capital Gains Tax

You don’t pay capital gains tax on your pension funds.

Income tax

Any money taken out, excluding any tax-free cash, may

be subject to income tax. Lump sum benefits payable

on death are not normally subject to income tax unless

they are over the available lump sum and death benefit

allowance, paid out more than 2 years after notification of

death or where death occurred after age 75.

Inheritance tax

Lump sum benefits are not normally subject to

Inheritance tax.

How will I know how the Local

Government AVC Scheme is doing?

We’ll send you a yearly statement, which shows how your

plan is doing.

Keep track of your plan online, at a time that suits you.

With your online service you can check the value of your

plan, contact us securely, change personal details and

view your documents. If you’re not registered, it’s easy and

only takes five minutes. You’ll need your policy number,

postcode and date of birth. Go to pru.co.uk/registeronline

to find out more.

What happens to the Local Government

AVC Scheme if I die?

If you die before you start taking your benefits, we will

pay the value of your pension pot as a lump sum to your

beneficiaries. The manager of your scheme will tell us who

this is so please make sure you keep them up to date with

your wishes.

If you have elected to pay AVCs for the purchase of

life cover, the manager of your scheme will tell us who

should receive the death in service lump sum and/or

beneficiary pension.

What if the Local Government

AVC Scheme is not right for me?

There will not be an opportunity to cancel once the plan

has started, the contract is binding and we will not return

any money to you until you are ready to take your benefits.

However, you can reduce or stop your payments

at any time. Please see the section ‘What if I stop

making payments?’.

How much will the advice cost?

If you take advice then you will agree the cost of this with

your financial adviser when you start the plan.

Tax rules can change and the impact of

taxation (and any tax relief) depends on your

circumstances. Before you make a decision you

might want to speak to a financial adviser. They

can help you understand the tax rules and how

they might affect you.

For more information visit pru.co.uk/tax or the

HMRC website at hmrc.gov.uk.

Client category

We classify you as a “retail client” under Financial

Conduct Authority (FCA) rules. This means you’ll

receive the highest level of protection for complaints

and compensation and receive information in a

straightforward way.

Compensation

The products Prudential Assurance Company Limited

(PACL) offer are covered by the Financial Services

Compensation Scheme (FSCS). If we get into financial

difficulties, you may be able to make a claim. The FSCS is

an independent body set up by Government to provide

compensation for people where their authorised financial

services provider gets into financial difficulties and becomes

unable, or unlikely to be able, to pay claims against it. This

circumstance is referred to as being ‘in default’.

Losses, which may result from poor investment

performance, are not covered by the FSCS.

Where does FSCS protection apply?

There is full FSCS coverage if PACL is ‘in default’.

• Your pension is protected up to 100% of the value of

your claim.

• Any funds you choose to hold in your pension will be

included in the value of your claim in the event that

PACL is declared ‘in default’.

• If you hold the Prudential With-Profits fund or Deposit

fund in your pension, they are protected 100% in the

event of the default of PACL

All the other funds we offer, apart from those mentioned

above, are unit-linked, and invest in other funds

managed by non-PACL fund managers. FSCS cover

does not apply if the non-PACL fund manager were to

be ‘in default’.

• There is no FSCS cover for unit-linked funds investing

with non-PACL fund managers if that manager were to

be ‘in default’.

• See ‘How funds invest’ for further information on these

types of fund (often called ‘mirror’ funds).

You can find out more information on the FSCS at

pru.co.uk/fscs, or you can call us.

Information is also available from the Financial Services

Compensation Scheme.

Visit their website: fscs.org.uk

Or write to:

The Financial Services Compensation Scheme

PO Box 300

Mitcheldean

GL17 1DY

Or call the FSCS:

Telephone: 0800 678 1100

Where FSCS coverage does not apply, then other

factors can come in

As explained in the ‘Where does FSCS protection apply?’

section, the FSCS doesn’t cover every situation. For

example unit-linked funds that invest in the funds of non-

PACL fund managers (often called ‘mirror’ funds).

But, where FSCS protection does not apply, there are

other factors that could help if the worst happened

and a provider was ‘in default’. For example, the use of

custodians or depositories to provide protection for fund

assets, where there is separate legal ownership of assets

and legal entities that aren’t liable for any losses of a fund

manager. In so doing, the intention is that the underlying

fund will not be liable for any losses the underlying fund

management company incurs.

PACL would aim to recover any money invested in an

underlying fund where the fund manager has been

declared ‘in default’, but PACL would not be liable for

any loss incurred from the default of the non-PACL

fund manager.

Financial Strength

Prudential meets regulatory standards for meeting its

financial obligations. You can read our solvency and

financial conditions reports at pru.co.uk/about_us, or if

you contact us we can post some information to you.

Other information

Conflict of Interest

We want to make sure that we uphold our reputation for

conducting business with integrity. If we become aware

that our interests may conflict with yours we will take all

reasonable steps to manage it in an appropriate manner.

We have drawn up a policy to deal with any conflicts

of interest. If you would to know the full details, please

Law

The law of Scotland and Northern Ireland applies to

your contract.

Our regulators

We are authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority

and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the

Prudential Regulation Authority. Prudential Assurance

Company Limited is entered on the Financial Conduct

Authority (FCA) Register, FCA Reference Number

139793. The FCA Register is a public record of all the

organisations that the FCA regulates.

You can contact the FCA at:

The Financial Conduct Authority

12 Endeavour Square

London

E20 1JN

Email: consumer.[email protected]g.uk

Prudential Regulation Authority details:

The Prudential Regulation Authority

Bank of England

Threadneedle St

London

EC2R 8AH

Email: enquiries@bankofengland.co.uk

Communicating with you

Our documents and terms and conditions, as well as all

other communications, will be in English.

How to make a complaint

If you have a complaint, please get in touch with us and

we will do everything we can to resolve it. You can also

ask us for details of our complaints handling process. Our

contact details are in the “Get in touch ” section at the

back of this document.

If you’re not satisfied with our response, you can take

your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service who

help settle individual disputes between consumers and

businesses providing financial services:

Financial Ombudsman Service

Exchange Tower

London

E14 9SR

Telephone: 0800 023 4567 or 0300 123 9123

Website: financial-ombudsman.org.uk

Help is also available from The Pensions Ombudsman

who deals with complaints and disputes about the

administration and management of occupational and

personal pension schemes.

The Pensions Ombudsman

10 South Colonnade

Canary Wharf

London

E14 4PU

Telephone: 0800 917 4487

Email: [email protected]

Website: pensions-ombudsman.org.uk

You can also submit a complaint form

online: pensions-ombudsman.org.uk/making-complaint

These services are free and using them won’t affect your

legal rights.

‘Prudential’ is a trading name of The Prudential Assurance Company Limited which is registered in England and Wales. Registered Office at

10 Fenchurch Avenue, London EC3M 5AG. Registered number 15454. Authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial

Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority.

pru.co.uk

LAVK10054 03/2024_WEB

If you want to contact us before you buy this plan, or to increase your AVCs, you can do so online or by phone.

With your online service you can check the value of your plan, contact us securely, change personal details,

view your documents and manage your AVC contributions.

If you’re not registered, it’s easy and only takes five minutes. You’ll need your policy number, postcode and

date of birth. Go to pru.co.uk/registeronline to find out more.

For general enquiries about an existing AVC plan, call our support team on 0345 600 0343. Lines are open

Monday – Friday, 8.30am – 6.00pm.

We might record your call for training and quality purposes. To find out more about how we use your personal

data please pru.co.uk/mydata.

Write to: Prudential Lancing BN15 8GB UK

If you’re a Deaf customer, who is also a British Sign Language (BSL) user, you can contact us using a Video

Relay service. The service, provided by SignVideo, connects customers to fully qualified, registered NRCPD

interpreters who will relay your conversation with a member of our customer service team.

pru.co.uk/contact-us/signvideo

There is no cost for using this service to call Prudential and we’re available to help you Monday to Friday,

8am to 6pm.

You’ll also find more information at pru.co.uk/localgov

Get in touch

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