ePAT is CTC’s pre-retirement pension, protection and savings illustrations system. For more details, select one of the links below.
• ePat for Protection
• ePat for Savings
ePAT provides illustrations for those saving towards retirement. In this situation most people wish to take account of all their possible sources of retirement income, in typical “Pensions” terms this is: -
- Their current arrangements – whether employed or self-employed, whether DB or DC
- Arrangements from previous employment – whether “preserved” or with “transfer” potential.
- State Benefits
More important than a single illustration are the facilities to undertake “what if” calculations – on-line, directly and without the delays intrinsic in the traditional paper-based presentations.
The facilities within ePAT enable instant answers to the following questions:-
- What is my arrangement worth now?
- What benefits will it provide me when I retire, die or the plan matures?
- How much extra will I get if I contribute more money each month?
- How much extra do I need to contribute to give myself extra benefits?
- What happens if I stop or change my plan?
The presentation of this information on line can complement face-to-face meetings with an adviser (with appropriate illustration capability to hand) and provide a response to the individuals at the point when they are, generally, ready to make a decision. Further, providing the information at the right time in this way significantly reduces costs both in terms of human resource and printed media.
Following the traditional paper based processes has meant that, in the past, many providers have shied away from suggesting to individuals that they should look at their benefits in such a proactive way.
Throughout the market there is more and more interest in the aggregation of pension entitlements. For example, taking into account all possible sources of retirement income in assessing a person’s need for further saving. ePAT is capable of aggregating not only state benefits (including data taken from the DWP) but also retained benefits from any number of DC or DB schemes.
For the majority of employees State Benefits continue to provide a very significant proportion of their retirement income. The government have recognised this through their Combined Benefit Forecast initiative and are increasingly keen that employees are provided with benefit projections which show both their potential state benefits and those arising from occupational or private pension provision. ePAT provides the ability for an individual to manually input for themselves details they may have obtained from the DWP or by direct data import where this is available.
The CTC system incorporates substantial flexibility through the concept of contribution/benefit streams within a single product. With regard to “contribution streams” this functionality allows:-
- Different charges to be applied to different contribution streams.
- Different charges to be applied to contribution streams commencing at different dates.
- Fund choice to vary by contribution stream.
- Multiple funds to be chosen within a stream, with calculations reflecting different growth rates/AMCs for different funds chosen.
- The rules applied at the benefit stream level can allow for benefits to be calculated according to differing definitions for differing types of benefit or cover and include allowance for statutory restrictions.
The CTC system also allows a differentiation between the contribution streams and the benefit streams. This means that multiple forms of contribution can be defined, with the monies arising aggregated to allow for charges relating to the benefits chosen to be specified and deducted and for the appropriate benefits to be reflected in illustrations and calculations arising on surrender, death or maturity.
The benefit stream structure allows such matters as minimum and maximum ages and contribution levels to be defined, this structure also allows limits on minimum and maximum coverage and appropriate cross validations (e.g. where several benefits must utilise similar definitions).