Your employer may arrange for a pension provider to set up a personal pension arrangement through the workplace. A personal pension arranged in this way is called a ‘Group Personal Pension Plan’ (GPPP).

A GPPP is a type of personal pension where your employer chooses the financial provider on your behalf.

There can be some advantages to contributing to a GPPP arranged by your employer:

• your employer will normally contribute to your pension – and if the GPPP is offered as an alternative to a stakeholder pension your employer must contribute an amount equal to at least three per cent of your basic salary

• if your employer has contributed to your pension and you leave your employment you do not lose the money they have contributed

• your employer will normally deduct your contributions from your pay and send them to your pension provider

• a GPPP is negotiated with the pension provider on behalf of a group of people and your employer may be able to negotiate better terms than you would get individually – for instance, they may negotiate reduced administration costs

• you may be able to continue making contributions to your pension if you change employers

You are likely to lose some of these benefits if you leave your employer. For instance, they are unlikely to make any further contributions to your pension and you may have to pay higher administration costs to the pension provider.