The Freetrade SIPP is administered by Platform One Limited (Platform One). The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is a financial services regulator. It requires Platform One, the Scheme Administrator, to give you this important information to help you to decide whether the Freetrade SIPP 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. If you do not understand any aspect of this document then please ask Freetrade or seek independent advice.
If you are unsure whether this product, its features, investment options and charges are right for you then you should take appropriate financial advice. Neither Platform One nor Freetrade, the co-manufacturer, promoter and distributor of the Freetrade SIPP, are authorised to give you financial or investment advice.
The pension plan is designed to let you:
Once you have commenced a Freetrade SIPP, your commitments include:
Below are outlined risks associated with saving for retirement through a pension plan. Some of the risks below refer to the investment performance of the funds in your pension plan. Remember that you are responsible for the investment decisions. In many instances, the funds you invest in will also have key information documents that outline the specific risks applicable to that investment and you are recommended to read these as well as this document.
The favourable tax treatment for pension savings and the age at which you can first start to take benefits could change in the future.
Investment performance or charges may be better or worse than expected, which could affect the potential size of your Pension Fund and therefore the benefits you receive.
The charges or fees you pay in relation to this pension plan may be higher than expected, which could affect the potential size of your Pension Fund and therefore the benefits you receive.
Other things that can affect the potential size of your Pension Fund and the benefits you receive include the amount you pay or transfer in to the pension plan, which could be lower than you anticipated, or if you take benefits earlier that you were aiming for.
Investment conditions can also affect your pension income - if you convert your Pension Fund to an annuity (i.e. purchase a policy from an insurance company that provides you with a regular income) then prevailing interest rates at the time of conversion will affect the amount of annuity you will receive. Generally speaking, lower interest rates mean lower annuity amounts, although annuity amounts are also affected by other factors such as life expectancy and your state of health.
Alternatively, if you decide to draw your pension income directly from your Pension Fund then investment returns may not sustain your income requirement.
There may be a delay in receiving benefits if some of your investments cannot be sold quickly.
You have a right to cancel your pension plan within the first 30 days. Where you have invested during this period and you exercise your right to cancel then the amount returned will be the amount realised less any costs associated with the investment and subsequent disinvestment.
While the pension plan can accept transfers from other pension schemes, not all transfers may be suitable. For all transfers you are responsible, with the help of a financial adviser if necessary, for ensuring that the transfer is suitable for you.
A cash transfer from another pension scheme will mean your Pension Fund may miss out on investment growth for the time it takes from disinvestment under the transferring scheme to investment under this pension plan. You may therefore wish to consider transferring the investments in-specie where this is an available option. The transferring scheme may charge you for making an in-specie transfer.
The Freetrade SIPP is a pension plan that allows you to save for retirement in a tax-efficient and flexible way.
The benefits you can receive are subject to UK pensions legislation. This includes rules about limits on contributions that can qualify for tax relief, the earliest age you can take benefits and limits on what those benefits can be without incurring tax penalties, including the amount that can be taken as tax-free cash payments.
To be eligible for this product you must be a UK resident and have reached the age of 18. The Freetrade SIPP is only available to customers of Freetrade.
It is intended to be used by people who want to:
They should also be prepared to commit to tying up their money, normally until at least age 55 (rising to age 57 from 6 April 2028), which is the earliest age from which benefits can normally be paid from pension plans.
If you are in any doubt as to whether this pension plan is right for you, then you should consider speaking to a financial adviser.
Platform One Limited is the registered Scheme Administrator of your pension plan and ensures it is administered in accordance with the Trust Deed and Rules and adheres to HMRC rules and regulations.
Freetrade provides the digital systems to allow you to interact with and receive information about your pension plan via the Freetrade mobile app.
Freetrade Limited is the custody provider for all client assets.
No. Stakeholder pension schemes are a specific form of pension that must meet Government minimum standards relating to contributions, charges and provision of a default investment fund. Stakeholder schemes are generally available and it is for you to consider, with the assistance of a financial adviser, if required, whether one might meet your needs as well as the pension plan on offer.
The Trust Deed and Rules are the legal documents that have established the Freetrade SIPP Scheme under which the Freetrade SIPP operates and which govern how the Scheme is administered. These documents also appoint The Trustee and the Scheme Operator. The Trustee of the Freetrade SIPP is Gaudi Trustees Limited and the Scheme Operator is Platform One Limited who is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
The final value of your pension plan will depend on how much is paid in, how long you invest for, the charges paid, and how well the investments perform.
The following information are examples to show the effect time and performance could have on the returns you could receive with the Freetrade SIPP. In reality your circumstances may differ meaning you could achieve more or less than the amounts shown below.
The following table shows what the value of your Freetrade SIPP could be, and the annual income it could provide if you didn’t take the tax-free lump sum, using a range of possible contributions and periods to retirement. These figures account for the effects of inflation, so are in ‘real terms’.
The figures are based on the following assumptions:
The actual rates of return will depend on the value of your portfolio and the performance of your investments. As such, returns may differ from those shown below.Here’s what you might get back from your Freetrade SIPP:
The cost of running your SIPP is included in your Freetrade Plus subscription fee that is paid directly by you, rather than costs being deducted from the Pension Fund and the impact of these costs is therefore not reflected in the illustrations. These illustrations should not be used directly to compare the Freetrade SIPP with alternative pension products, which take charges from within the Pension Fund.
You will be sent an annual statement showing how your pension plan is doing. The value of your pension plan will also be available through the Freetrade mobile app.
This type of pension plan allows you, once you have attained minimum pension age, to draw as much or as little of your pension fund as you like, when you like, along with offering different benefit options as explained under the ‘Benefits summary’ section below. How much pension income you get will depend on your choices and many variable factors such as income tax, the value of your pension plan and investment performance.
As a customer of Freetrade you pay a subscription fee which includes access to the Freetrade SIPP in accordance with Freetrade’s Terms and Conditions. Freetrade uses this fee to pay the service providers required for running your pension plan. In broad terms, these fees cover such things as administration, custody, payment processing et cetera. Therefore you do not pay a fee directly to Platform One for the administration services it provides to Freetrade.
There may be rare situations where an additional fee is required for carrying out work not covered by this fee. Where this arises you will be notified before any work is carried out to agree to this additional fee.
There are no other fees for the Freetrade SIPP except Freetrade’s standard investment related fees and a fee for withdrawing benefits by Uncrystallised Funds Pension Lump Sum (see the section ‘Taking benefits from the pension plan’ below). Further information about the charges applicable to the Freetrade SIPP can be found in the Charges Schedule, which you should read as part of this Key Features Document and the SIPP Terms.
What are my payment options?
You can transfer pension benefits from other suitable pension arrangements, at the discretion of the Scheme Administrator.
The transfer can be received in the form of cash or by transfer of the investments (an in-specie transfer), provided those investments can be held under the Freetrade SIPP. If the same investments are available under your Freetrade SIPP with lower fund management fees, you will be given the option to convert to those investments.
There is no minimum or maximum amount.
Transfers in of funds that are in drawdown are not currently accepted.
Transfers from defined benefit pension schemes and schemes that provide safeguarded benefits are not accepted.
Please note that if you are transferring benefits from another pension scheme that has tax-free cash protection this protection may be lost on transfer.
If you are in any doubt about the benefit of transferring, you should contact a qualified financial adviser.
If you are eligible to make UK tax relievable pension contributions you can make one-off contributions into your Freetrade SIPP at any time.
This gives you the flexibility to pay exactly what you feel you can afford to contribute, when it suits you. Always remember that reducing or stopping contributions, even temporarily, will reduce the potential value of your Pension Fund at retirement.
Contributions may be made through a transfer of money via such methods as Freetrade may allow in accordance with the Freetrade Terms and Conditions.
The Government encourages people to save for their later years by giving income tax relief on contributions paid into pension plans.
There is a limit on how much tax relief you can receive on pension contributions, but providing you are under the age of 75 and a relevant UK individual (which you will be if you are a UK resident), you will be eligible to receive income tax relief on contributions up to the tax relievable limit.
There are also various types of Annual Allowance which, if exceeded, mean you will have a personal tax charge that effectively claws back some of the tax relief your pension plan receives. These are explained below.
What is the tax relievable limit?
This limit is referred to as the gross contribution limit, i.e. ignoring tax relief, and applies to the total personal contributions you make in a tax year to all pension plans you have.
This is the greater of £3,600 and 100% of your earnings, known as relevant UK earnings, a full definition of which can be provided on request but which includes salary and bonuses paid to you if employed or, if self-employed, your income which is chargeable to income tax.
The contributions you make to this pension plan are referred to as net contributions, i.e. allowing for basic rate income tax relief to be added. Therefore, assuming a basic rate income tax of 20%, the amount you can pay in (the net contribution tax relievable limit) is the greater of £2,880 and 80% of your earnings.
Although your pension plan will receive basic rate tax relief on contributions you make, up to the tax relievable contribution limit, you may receive a personal tax charge directly from HMRC if total contributions in a tax year to all pension plans exceed the Annual Allowance, or if applicable, the Tapered Annual Allowance or Money Purchase Annual Allowance. Please see the section ‘How might I be taxed on pension contributions?’ below, for more information.
No. This pension plan does not allow contributions above the tax relievable contribution limit to be made.
Basic rate tax relief is automatically collected from HMRC by the Scheme Administrator and is paid into your pension plan, although it can take several months for it to be received from HMRC.
For example, for a total contribution of £1,000 you would pay £800 and the Scheme Administrator would claim £200 tax relief from HMRC. (This example is based on 20% basic rate income tax.)
If you pay income tax at a higher rate than the basic rate, you can claim extra tax relief through your self-assessment tax return. You will receive this tax relief rather than it going into your pension plan, but it does make your contribution even more cost-effective.
For example, for a total contribution of £1,000 you would pay £800 and the Scheme Administrator would add £200 basic rate tax relief claimed from HMRC. If you pay 40% income tax on at least £1,000 of earnings then you can claim a further £200 in tax relief. Therefore your pension contribution of £1,000 would only cost you £600.
You are allowed to make contributions above the Annual Allowances (but not above the tax relievable limit) in this pension plan. The tax relief received in to your pension plan remains there, but you should consider the impact of receiving a personal tax charge on the excess contribution, which will reduce the tax-efficiency of making such pension contributions.
Total contributions for this purpose include:
While the Freetrade SIPP cannot accept employer contributions or third party contributions, they do count towards the pension contribution Annual Allowances, which are explained below.
For the avoidance of doubt, transfers between pension arrangements are not included.
The amount of tax charged on the excess contribution over the relevant Annual Allowance will be your highest marginal rate of income tax and will ordinarily be paid by you to HMRC via declaring the excess payment on your self-assessment tax return.
It may be possible to request that the tax charge is paid out of your pension plan funds if you are eligible under ‘Scheme Pays’ rules.
If you have not fully used your available Annual Allowance from the previous three tax years and provided you were a member of a registered pension scheme during that period, you may be able to `carry forward’ that unused allowance and include it in your self-assessment tax return. This may reduce or eliminate the Annual Allowance tax charge. This cannot be used where a Money Purchase Annual Allowance tax charge applies.
If you think you may be close to, or exceed, an Annual Allowance and you are in any doubt about its impact, you should seek financial advice as this is a complex area.
Enhanced Protection was introduced to protect pension funds built up prior to 6 April 2006 from being subject to a Lifetime Allowance charge. The Government subsequently reduced the Lifetime Allowance on three separate occasions, on 6 April 2012, 2014 and 2016 and introduced Fixed Protection to protect pension funds built up prior to each of those dates from the Lifetime Allowance charge.
From 6 April 2023 you are able to make contributions to a pension plan without losing any pension protection for which you applied before 15 March 2023, including any rights to a higher Pension Commencement Lump Sum (PCLS). If you apply for protection on or after 15 March 2023 certain types of protection will be lost if contributions are made to any of your pension plans.
Pension funds do not pay UK taxes on income or capital gains from investment growth. However, tax cannot be reclaimed on UK and some overseas dividends.
All cash will be held in accordance with the Freetrade Terms and Conditions. Investments held within the Freetrade SIPP must be purchased via, and held under ‘Invest by Freetrade’, which currently offers EU, US and UK stocks, ETFs and investment trusts.
Further details of the range of available investments can be found in the separate ‘Investment Brochure’.
The Freetrade SIPP investments meet the FCA’s definition of ‘standard’ which broadly means FCA authorised or recognised collective investment schemes, structured products or listed securities which are capable of being valued on a regular basis and sold within 30 days.
You can choose to invest in anything available and suitable for SIPP investments through the ‘Invest by Freetrade’ service via the Freetrade mobile app.
The investment decisions are yours but you can refer to investment guidance provided by Freetrade to help you determine what investments may be suitable for you. Please note that the guidance provided on suitable investments does not constitute advice and you are responsible for selecting the investment appropriate for you.
You can change your choice of investments whenever you like. Please remember that additional investment charges may apply.
Freetrade will show you an investment, which is labelled as a ‘default’ investment option. The default option has been determined by Platform One to meet the needs, objectives and characteristics of a typical non-advised Freetrade SIPP member. The default option is not tailored to your specific needs, objectives ,or characteristics as an individual customer and it should not be regarded as advice. There is no obligation to invest in the ‘default’ investment option, which may change in future. You can find information about the ‘default’ investment in the FAQs on the Freetrade website. If you wish to ensure that the Freetrade SIPP and any investments within it are suitable for you, you should consider seeking advice from suitably authorised and regulated adviser.
The type of benefits you can take from this pension plan are summarised below.
Benefits summary
Please note:Some pension plans provide other options at age 55 (rising to 57 from 6 April 2028) for taking pension benefits from some or all of a Pension Fund. These are briefly described below. Your Freetrade SIPP and will havedoes not currently offerthese options but you should consider, with the help of a financial adviser if necessary, whether they would be more suitable for your needs and circumstances. If so, you would need to transfer some or all of your Pension Fund to another pension plan that does offer these options.
Flexi-access drawdown - This method of withdrawal usually allows up to 25% of the Pension Fund value being used to provide benefits to be taken as a tax-free cash payment. The remaining 75% of the Pension Fund value will then continue to be invested but from which you can take single or regular taxable withdrawals when you like or to buy an annuity from an annuity provider. Note: taking the tax-free lump sum payment does not trigger the Money Purchase Annual Allowance but taking any taxable withdrawals will.
Small pots lump sum – This method of withdrawal is only possible if you have a Pension Fund value of less than £10,000. It allows you to withdraw all of your Pension Fund as a lump sum, 25% of which is tax free, the remainder will be subject to income tax, in the same way as an Uncrystallised Funds Pension LumpSum described above. However, a Small pots lump sum will not trigger the Money Purchase Annual Allowance and will not be tested against the Lifetime Allowance as described in the ‘Limits’ section below.
You may take benefits from a pension plan from age 55, rising to 57 from 6 April 2028. You may also take benefits earlier if you suffer serious ill health or an illness or an accident which leaves you permanently unable to carry out your current occupation and you cease that occupation.
On reaching age 50, you can use Pension Wise from MoneyHelper, a free and impartial government backed service, to help you understand what your pension benefit choices are and how they work. This service can be accessed via https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/pensions-and-retirement/pension-wise.
It is strongly recommended that prior to accessing your pension benefits you seek advice from a suitably qualified financial adviser or obtain guidance from Pension Wise.
The Government announced in its Spring Budget on 15 March 2023, that limits on pension benefits would be changing from 6 April 2023. Prior to this date, if you took benefits that exceeded your Lifetime Allowance, then a Lifetime Allowance charge would be deducted from the excess amount. The standard Lifetime Allowance being £1.0731 million. The Government intends to abolish theLifetime Allowance, in due course by making changes to pensions legislation, but in the meantime has removed the Lifetime Allowance charge, with effect from 6 April 2023.
Even though you will not receive a charge if your benefits exceed your Lifetime Allowance, it is still a requirement to keep track of how much your Lifetime Allowance is. This is because until pensions legislation is changed, certain benefits may be subject to income tax if they exceed your Lifetime Allowance. Therefore, for the time being, if you take benefits from your pension plan, they will continue to be tested against your Lifetime Allowance.
The following limits apply:
There is no limit on annuity purchase.
Taking benefits in this form is limited to a maximum of the Lifetime Allowance you have remaining.
If this type of benefit is paid and it exceeds your Lifetime Allowance it will be subject to income tax on the excess.
When you die, your Pension Fund may be used to provide benefits to your beneficiaries. As the Scheme Administrator, Platform One Limited has discretion over the distribution of payments after your death. You are recommended to complete and keep updated an ‘Expression of Wish’ form to nominate your beneficiaries. While it cannot be binding, the Scheme Administrator will take your wishes into account.
The following table summarises the benefits payable.
To claim death benefits, the person dealing with your affairs should contact Freetrade directly, at the email address “hello@freetrade.io”. They will confirm the information needed to pay the benefits as quickly as possible.
You can transfer all or part of your pension plan to another registered pension scheme at any time.
You may be able to transfer some or all of the investments held in your Freetrade SIPP to your new pension plan if it is also able to hold those investments. Otherwise your investments will have to be sold and a cash transfermade.
If you change your mind, you have legal cancellation rights for a limited time period.
The right to cancel applies to the commencement of the pension plan and on receipt of a transfer into the pension plan.
In the event of cancellation, the net realisable value of any assets purchased and subsequently disinvested will form the basis of the amount returned. This means that having taken into account any fees or charges paid in relation to the investment and any price movements (particularly downwards), you may get back less than you originally invested.
The Scheme Administrator will only refund a maximum of the net contributions made and any money that is in excess of the net contribution will be paid to charity.
If you want to cancel your pension plan, you should notify Freetrade through in-app chat on the Freetrade mobile app within the 30 day cancellation period. The pension plan cannot be cancelled after the cancellation period has ended.
Any contributions will be returned less any tax relief claimed on your behalf, which will be returned to HMRC.
If your pension plan has already received transfers in they will also be cancelled, as set out below, as part of your pension plan cancellation.
If you want to cancel a transfer into the pension plan, you should notify Freetrade through in-app chat on the Freetrade mobile app within the 30 day cancellation period. A transfer cannot be cancelled after the cancellation period has ended.
Where you cancel a transfer into your pension plan the transferring scheme may not agree to accept back your transfer value, or may only accept it on revised terms, which are not acceptable to you. In this case you will be responsible for finding an alternative scheme to transfer the funds to.
If you have a query or complaint, please contact Freetrade through in-app chat on the Freetrade mobile app. If you have a complaint, Freetrade will do all they can to resolve it. Details of the complaint handling process are available on request.
If you are not happy with the response and you wish to take the matter further you can refer it, free of charge and without giving up any other rights you may have, to one of the following:
10 South ColonnadeCanary Wharf E14 4PUTelephone number: 0800 917 4487
The Pensions Ombudsman provides an Early Resolution Service, which may help resolve any complaint promptly. Please see: https://www.pensions-ombudsman.org.uk/sites/default/files/publication/files/ERS%20factsheet.pdf.
Exchange Tower, London, E14 9SRTelephone number: 0800 023 4567
www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk
Please contact Freetrade through in-app chat on the Freetrade mobile app or email us at hello@freetrade.io.
The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) may provide protection if the Scheme Administrator cannot meet claims made against it or if investments or money cannot be returned.
If you are eligible, the maximum level of compensation for claims against firms declared in default on or after 1 April 2019 is £85,000 per person per firm. Further information about compensation arrangements is available from the FSCS website at www.fscs.org.uk.
Pension plans are regulated contracts in their own right and hence are covered by the FSCS.
Investments held by your Pension Fund may also be separately covered by the compensation scheme, where they are provided by a regulated investment company or insurance company. It is your responsibility to establish whether your investments are covered. Those companies will provide information about the levels of cover provided.
Your status under the FSCS does not affect any statutory right you may have to compensation.
The law of England and Wales will be used to decide any dispute.
The information in this document is based on current understanding of the law and practice as at its Version date. Every effort is made to ensure that this information is helpful, accurate and correct but the law and practice may change or may not apply to your personal circumstances. You should not take any action on the basis of this information alone as you should also read the SIPP Terms and the Trust Deed and Rules. Before taking any action you should always consider taking appropriate financial advice.
HMRC practice and the laws relating to pension taxation are complex and depend on individual circumstances and changes which cannot be foreseen.
This product is a personal pension plan regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. The Freetrade SIPP is operated by Platform One Limited who is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority with permission to establish, operate and wind up personal pension schemes.
This Key Features Document gives a summary of the Freetrade SIPP. It does not include all the definitions, exclusions or terms and conditions.
The full contractual terms are set out in the Trust Deed and Rules and the SIPP Terms. You should also read the Freetrade Terms and Conditions which you will need to agree to before applying for a Freetrade SIPP. If you would like copies of these, or clarification of any of the information provided in this document, please contact Freetrade through in-app chat on the Freetrade mobile app.
The SIPP Terms may be varied from time to time by giving you 30 days' notice, except where the Scheme Administrator considers it to be to your benefit, or where changes in applicable laws or the rules of the relevant regulatory bodies or authority are required to take effect earlier than that date, in which case the Scheme Administrator will issue the notice of variation as soon as reasonably practicable.
The Scheme Administrator and Operator of the Freetrade SIPP is Platform One Limited.
The Trustee of the Freetrade SIPP is Gaudi Trustees Limited.
The contact details for Freetrade are:
Level 2,
The Truman Brewery,
91 Brick Lane,
London,
E1 6QL,
UK
Email: contact@freetrade.io.
In-app chat on the Freetrade mobile app.T here is currently no dedicated phone helpline.
Freetrade is a trading name of Freetrade Limited, which is a member firm of the London Stock Exchange and is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (Firm Reference Number: 783189). Registered in England and Wales (Company Number: 09797821) at Level 2, The Truman Brewery, 91 Brick Lane, London, E1 6QL, UK.
“Platform One” refers to Platform One Limited (Company Number: 06993268). Gaudi Trustees Limited (Company Number: 07898388) is part of the Platform One Group. Each Company being registered in England and Wales at Peartree Business Centre, Cobham Road, Wimborne, Dorset, BH21 7PT.
Platform One Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. (Firm Reference Number: 542059).
You can check out these details on the Companies House website at
www.gov.uk/government/organisations/companies-house and the FCA’s website at www.fca.org.uk/register.
SIPP ELIGIBILITY RULES APPLY. TAX TREATMENT DEPENDS ON YOUR PERSONAL CIRCUMSTANCES AND CURRENT RULES MAY CHANGE. US DIVIDENDS RECEIVED INTO YOUR SIPP MAY BE SUBJECT TO US WITHHOLDING TAX. PENSIONS THAT ARE TRANSFERRED TO THE FREETRADE SIPP MAY LOSE THE PROTECTED PENSION AGE BENEFIT. THIS MEANS THAT YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO DRAW THE MONIES FROM THE FREETRADE SIPP UNTIL YOU ARE AGED 57. PLEASE ENSURE YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOU AND THE EFFECT IT MAY HAVE ON YOU AND YOUR SAVINGS.
CHECK BEFORE YOU TRANSFER A PENSION TO US THAT WE CAN ACCEPT YOUR INVESTMENTS, YOU WON’T LOSE ANY GUARANTEES, AND THAT YOU KNOW WHAT CHARGES YOU MAY INCUR. SEEK ADVICE IF YOU ARE UNSURE ABOUT MAKING A TRANSFER.
A SIPP IS A PENSION DESIGNED FOR YOU TO SAVE UNTIL YOUR RETIREMENT AND IS FOR PEOPLE WHO WANT TO MAKE THEIR OWN INVESTMENT DECISIONS. YOU CAN NORMALLY ONLY DRAW YOUR PENSION FROM AGE 55 (57 FROM 2028), EXCEPT IN SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES.
AT PRESENT, FREETRADE ONLY SUPPORTS UNCRYSTALLISED FUND PENSION LUMP SUMS (UFPLS) FOR CUSTOMERS WHO WISH TO WITHDRAW FUNDS FROM THEIR SIPP AFTER THEIR 55TH BIRTHDAY. WE STRONGLY ENCOURAGE YOU TO SEEK FINANCIAL ADVICE BEFORE MAKING ANY WITHDRAWALS FROM YOUR SIPP.