Put more on top of my BA pension
Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs)
You can pay Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs) on top of your BA pension contributions to provide extra retirement pension.
- AVCs are a tax efficient form of retirement saving.
- Payments are flexible: you can pay a fixed amount every week or month, a percentage of pay or make one off payments.
- All payments must be within Scheme limits – currently you can pay up to a total of 30% of your Gross taxable pay into your BA pension (i.e. including your normal scheme contributions). If you want to pay more than 30% of your taxable pay you can also invest in an external pension arrangement (through an insurance company of your choice). The government will allow you to pay up to 100% of your taxable pay each year, up to a maximum of £255,000 for 2010/11 although the BA funds can only accept 30% of your taxable pay less normal scheme contributions.
- You can choose from 3 investment funds and pay into 1, 2 or all 3 of them, or you can make alternative arrangements yourself directly with an insurance company.
- Currently, there are no charges with BA AVC funds. Expense charges are incurred when buying and selling units in the Mixed Portfolio Fund (MPF). However, these charges are currently being paid by British Airways.
- The money you save plus any investment return is used to buy extra Lump sum or pension benefits at retirement.
- You can find out more information in "What I get from my AVC account".