SSAS pension schemes

A Small Self-Administered Scheme (SSAS) is a type of pension scheme that's set up by an employer usually for a select number of directors. It differs from a Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP) in that it is a separate scheme for the employer and our costs are charged per scheme rather than per member.

You may be particularly interested in a SSAS if you are a business-owner and wish to use existing and/or future pension monies to interact with your business or simply wish to have a pension arrangement that isn't tied down to one provider. Your SSAS would be able to own your company premises for leaseback or lend monies to your company so that you pay loan interest to your own pension rather than to your bank. 

The Howden SSAS gives you complete control over who you select to provide services to your pension scheme. We'd take care of the scheme administration and due to the nature of SSASs we'd act as a professional trustee to assist in the process and to guide you generally in relation to the scheme. You'd be free to choose your own scheme bankers, investment advisers, solicitors, accountants and investment providers as you see fit. 

There's a one-off fee for providing the documentation to set up a SSAS and after that we charge a regular fee for acting as a trustee and administrator and to cover any other pieces of work that arise - such as retirement planning, provision of loan documentation etc. 

One key reason why our SSASs are so popular is that they offer a wide range of investments that may be selected by the pension holder or their adviser. You may choose your banker or use our preferred account which makes scheme administration more efficient. Investment into stock markets can be made directly by using online trading platforms or through an appointed stockbroker. 

We pride ourselves as being expert in dealing with pension property transactions. You may appoint your own solicitor and property manager and we'll guide them and you through the process. Pension monies may be used for land and commercial property transactions, but residential property can't be purchased. The property can be leased to your company and scheme is able to transact with you or your company over the property sale/purchase.

If finance is required, you may approach your own bankers or we can put you in touch with local bank managers. Pension funds may gear up within certain limits to help fund a property purchase, for example. 

Uniquely, funds in SSASs can be loaned to the sponsoring employer provided certain criteria covering term, interest rate, security etc. are met and loans don't exceed 50% of fund value. It's critical that loan repayments are kept up to date: you can't choose not to repay the loan simply because it has come from your own pension savings.

There are a range of options for accessing benefits. Most people will be able to draw a tax-free cash sum of up to 25% of their fund value when they reach age 55 and use the rest to draw as taxable income over their lifetime.

Your family can access your fund on death, either by way of receiving a lump sum or income. The lump sum is taxable if you've already drawn your own tax-free cash sum.

Our SSAS lets you save for retirement whilst keeping an unprecedented level of control on how your money is invested and looked after.  

We act as a professional trustee of our SSASs to ensure the scheme is kept compliant with tax legislation and our co-trustees are kept informed of latest developments. As part of this service, we provide scheme administration including dealing with regulatory returns as well as member and investment transactions.

Here's ten reasons why using Howden for your SSAS will help you save for the retirement you deserve:

Our team been advising SSAS clients since 1989, and are fully committed to our SSAS trusteeship and administration service.

We are backed up by the financial strength that comes with being the UK’s largest independent firm of actuaries.

With 2,086 current clients, we’ve built up a huge amount of experience in dealing with these schemes and the variety of investments that are held within them.

Within our SSAS portfolio we hold over 2,700 commercial properties and 65 new loan-backs per annum.

We have a team of experienced SSAS consultants and you’ll have a named consultant who’ll look after your SSAS. We don’t use call centres as we understand that clients with SSASs want individual attention and a dedicated point of contact.

We don’t impose unnecessary restrictions but counsel you through the relevant rules, with the emphasis on excellent service backed by technical expertise.  

We’ve held seminars on current SSAS issues every year for over 20 years. All our clients and their advisers are invited to attend at no charge.

We’ve supported the industry body - the Association of Member-Directed Pension Schemes – since its inception and Howden has been represented on the committee and provided past chairmen.

We’re happy to work with your existing advisers - we don’t insist on you using a panel of certain investment providers, solicitors or accountants.

We use technology to make things efficient and available - for example, online viewing access to bank accounts with our preferred SSAS bankers, electronic data management and online tools. We know the internet isn’t for everyone so we don't insist on you using it to deal with us.