Personal Pension Terms & Conditions

Version 0.1

May 2023

The Terms and Conditions in this schedule apply to the CIRCA5000 Personal Pension the pension scheme underlying the CIRCA5000 Personal Pension is the Seccl Personal Pension. This schedule refers to “the Scheme”. This is a personal pension scheme that allows you to save for retirement in a tax-effective way with the potential to invest in a range of investments. It is registered with HMRC under tax reference 20005619RK.

The Scheme has been established and is governed by a Trust Deed and attaching Rules, “the Trust Deed”. Within the Trust Deed, Seccl Custody Limited established the Scheme within the meaning of Part 4 of the Finance Act 2004 “the Act" and is the scheme administrator for taxation purposes. Seccl Custody Limited (the “Administration Company”) has appointed Digital Pension Trustees Limited (“the Trustee”), as trustee of the Scheme.

Any reference in these Terms and Conditions to “we”, “us” and “our” are references to the Administration Company and in relation to paragraphs 1.11 and 1.13, the Trustee. References to “you” and “your” are to you, our customer and member of the Scheme.

These Terms and Conditions, together with your application form a legally binding agreement between you and us.

Where this document refers to or describes a particular tax treatment, you should be aware that tax treatment depends on your individual circumstances and is subject to change in the future.

1. Our Personal Pension Services

1.1 Digital Pension Trustees Limited (the Trustee) owns the cash and investments in your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension, holding them for your benefit under the Scheme Rules. Seccl Custody Limited has been appointed to hold custody of the cash and investments in line with the Trust Deed and Rules. Seccl Custody Limited is responsible for the operation and administration of the CIRCA5000 Personal Pension. It is also responsible, as custodian, for the safekeeping and administration of the investments which you acquire in your Scheme. Seccl Custody Limited is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority to carry out these activities.

1.2 Our conflicts of interest policy sets out the types of actual or potential conflicts of interest which affect our business and provides details of how these are identified and managed or prevented. You have the right to ask us for further information regarding our conflicts of interest policy.

1.3 The FCA Rules require us to classify all investors. The CIRCA5000 Personal Pension service is provided by us to “retail clients”. Unless we tell you otherwise, we will treat you as a retail client under the FCA Rules. This means you get the highest level of protection available under the FCA Rules.

1.4 Our Scheme enables you to make investments into a range of different assets, but we do not provide any financial or tax advice, and therefore we will not assess the suitability or appropriateness for you of the investments you choose to hold within your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension, the Scheme itself or any other service we provide.

1.5 The investments which we provide access to may be restricted for your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension These restrictions will be made after taking into consideration FCA requirements, HMRC rules, legislation, and our administrative requirements.

Investment restrictions may be applied for the following valid reasons:

1. Changes in HMRC rules
2. Changes in pensions or other relevant legislation
3. Changes in the regulatory regime governing pension assets or reporting requirements
4. Changes in investment markets
5. Changes in how our business operates

There is no alternative to the Cash Account within your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension.

1.6 You alone are responsible for deciding whether your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension and the investments you choose are suitable for you. If you are in any doubt about the suitability or appropriateness of any particular investments, we recommend that you speak with an authorised adviser.

1.7 We may delegate our functions in respect of the CIRCA5000 Personal Pension to third parties in accordance with the Trust Deed. We will be responsible for the actions and omissions of any person to whom a function is delegated. We may also engage agents to help us perform our functions but will not be responsible for any acts and omissions of such persons subject to our duties under the FCA Rules and provided such engagements do not amount to a delegation of our functions.

1.8 Our Scheme is exclusively an online product for which you will need to complete an application. We will send communications and documents to you via the Message Hub. We will not generally communicate with you by post. All of our documents and communications with you will be in English. You agree to receive copies of our up-to-date policy summaries (including summaries of our conflicts of interest and order execution policies) via our website.

1.9 You can communicate with us about the CIRCA5000 Personal Pension by email at hi@circa5000.com or via telephone on: 0151 452 6655.

1.10 We are obliged under the FCA Rules to record certain communications (including telephone calls, electronic communications and instant messaging) which relate to, or are intended to lead to, the buying or selling of an investment. You have the right to request a copy of such recordings relating to your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension ] at any time in the five-year period beginning on the date of the relevant recording. We may monitor and record other communications and calls.

1.11 If we are negligent, knowingly in default, act fraudulently, or breach these Terms and Conditions or Applicable Law (as relevant), then we are legally responsible to you for the results of our actions unless set out below.

1.12 If we make a mistake acting on your instructions to deal in, switch or sell investments, we will correct it as soon as possible, and reimburse you for any loss that is a direct result of our error. This reimbursement may occur outside your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension, due to the tax treatment of such corrections.

1.13 We will not be responsible to you:

1.13.1 if you suffer a loss because the value of your assets fall

1.13.2 if you suffer a loss because you fail to comply with these Terms and Conditions or with any applicable legal requirement or because of any action which we take or refrain from taking in order to ensure that we comply with your instructions

1.13.3 for any action which we take or refrain from taking in order to ensure that we comply with Applicable Law

1.13.4 if we delay or fail to execute a transaction because of market conditions which may prevent us from being able to execute it in accordance with our order execution policy or Applicable Law

1.13.5 if you suffer a loss that was not reasonably foreseeable by you or us when accepting your Application for the CIRCA5000 Personal Pension or is not otherwise a natural result of the breach

1.13.6 if you suffer any loss or damage as a result of an external event or something else that is unavoidable and outside our reasonable control, or as a result of any steps which we reasonably take in response to such (including the unavailability of our systems);

1.13.7 for any deals on your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension made by any person you have authorised to deal on your scheme (such as a financial adviser) that are placed incorrectly or without your authority

1.13.8 for the performance of any third party (for example, any broker required to execute a transaction), unless otherwise stated in these Terms and Conditions.

In this clause, the word “loss” includes but is not limited to any liability to tax or penalty under tax law.

1.14 The responsibilities in this section also apply to the Nominee and the Trustee. We are responsible for their respective actions or omissions.

2. Your responsibilities

2.1 By opening your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension, you agree that you will not take part in an activity that may be considered to be market abuse. If we believe that your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension is being used to engage in market abuse, we reserve the right to take such action as we deem to be appropriate.

3. CIRCA5000 Personal Pension establishment

3.1 You can generally open and maintain a CIRCA5000 Personal Pension if you are an individual aged 18 years or over and aged under 75 years (if you are aged 75 years and over, you may open and maintain a CIRCA5000 Personal Pension via a transfer, however, you will be unable to claim tax relief on any contributions into your pension).

3.2 As part of the CIRCA5000 Personal Pension opening process, you will set up a username and password and provide certain other personal security details which you will use to access the CIRCA5000 Personal Pension. You must keep your security details secret. You must not disclose them to anyone or allow any other person to access your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension using your security details. We are not responsible for any loss that your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension may incur as a result of not having kept your security details and/or password secret.

3.3 The submission of your application does not constitute our acceptance of your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension which we may decline entirely at our discretion. These Terms and Conditions come into force when we accept your application.

3.4 Under applicable money laundering regulations, we are required to verify the identity of our investors and their beneficial owners (which for your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension may include your employer’s beneficial owners where contributions are made by your employer) and obtain additional information in relation to them. In order to do this, we may carry out electronic searches on private and public databases and use credit reference agencies which will record that an enquiry has been made. We may also need to ask you for further documentation as evidence.

3.5 Until we have verified your identity, we will place restrictions on your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension, and we may prevent any payments of benefits to you or refuse any contributions or transfers.

3.6 We will confirm when we have accepted your application and you will become a member of the Scheme as long as you have supplied all relevant information about any tax relief and other information requested as part of the application process.

4. Making payments and contributions to the CIRCA5000 Personal Pension

4.1 If you are eligible, you or your employer may make contributions to your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension either on an ad-hoc or regular basis. These contributions can be done through a transfer of money via bank transfer, direct debit or other payment method made available by us from time to time.

4.2 Personal contributions will normally be treated as having been paid net of basic rate tax which we will claim on your behalf from HMRC. The tax reclaim process normally takes between six to 12 weeks, during this time the money being reclaimed is not available for investment until we receive cleared funds from HMRC.

4.3 Tax relief is granted at your highest marginal rate of income tax. If you are a higher rate taxpayer, you will need to reclaim the additional tax relief through your self-assessment tax return.

4.4 You must tell the Administration Company if you are not entitled to tax relief on all or part of the contributions. More information on contribution rules and limits are available on our website or by contacting a financial adviser.

4.5 If you make contributions to your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension which, when combined with other contributions to other UK pension schemes, exceed the amount on which you are entitled to tax relief, we may agree to refund the excess contributions to you provided there is sufficient money in your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension to make the refund to you and repay any amounts due to HMRC. Any investment loss or growth in respect of a refunded contribution will be deemed to be outside the Scheme. A contribution cannot be refunded simply because it takes contributions over the Annual Allowance. Before we refund any excess contributions, we will require evidence that the payment will be authorised under the tax rules. Any excess tax relief already received from HMRC must be returned to HMRC within the timescale specified by HMRC. We are not responsible for any interest levied by HMRC on a refund of overpaid tax relief. See clause 4.11 below about the Annual Allowance.

4.6 A refund of excess contributions can be requested at any time before the end of the sixth tax year following the tax year in which they were made. The maximum refund available will be the value of the excess contribution(s). A refund might be delayed if there is insufficient cash in your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension.

4.7 We can refund a contribution when we receive a valid request for a contribution which was:

4.7.1 paid in genuine error (as defined by HMRC) and was not intended to be paid

4.7.2 an employer contribution which should have ceased on the termination of employment and was paid in error

4.7.3 a member or third-party contribution where the member has insufficient earnings to attract tax relief on the contribution paid.

4.8 Where there is insufficient money in your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension to pay amounts due to us, HMRC or to pay benefits or other payments due, we may require you to pay further funds into your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension bank account or dispose of assets to meet the amount due. We are entitled to direct that assets are disposed of within your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension on a proportional basis sufficient to repay us, you or HMRC if the amount remains unpaid after 30 days. If you have taken benefits or transferred out of the Scheme or there is insufficient money in your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension you remain liable for any losses or costs incurred by us.

4.9 Contributions paid by your employer are treated as being paid gross meaning there will be no further tax relief for us to claim. We will require your employer to provide additional information which indicates the payments they are committed to making on your behalf. Where payments are not received within the statutory timescale, we are obliged to notify the Pensions Regulator if it is deemed of material significance.

4.10 If we receive a Contribution payment and we are not provided sufficient information to identify that this is intended to be for your benefit, then this may be returned to the payer.

4.11 You should read the CIRCA5000 Personal Pension Key Features document for more information about how to make contributions, tax rules, and eligibility restrictions including Lifetime Allowance, money purchase Annual Allowance and tapered Annual Allowance. We will not be responsible for ensuring that your contributions remain below the Annual Allowance, money purchase annual allowance, and tapered Annual Allowance. We will not normally accept contributions that exceed your available Annual Allowance or (if applicable) money purchase Annual Allowance.

4.12 If you have incurred an Annual Allowance tax charge or money purchase Annual Allowance charge, you are responsible for paying them to HMRC. In the case of the Annual Allowance, you can also pay a share of the tax charge from your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension as long as the amount due to HMRC is at least £2,000. The maximum amount you can pay in this way must not exceed the encashment value of your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension after allowing for all fees, charges, and other deductions. If you are a member of more than one pension scheme, the amount paid from your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension should not in any case be more than a share in accordance with HMRC’s rules. To arrange the payment, you must tell us in writing that you wish to do so.

5. Pension input period

5.1 Your pension input period is a period of time defined by HMRC to measure your contributions paid. Your first pension input period starts when we accept your first contribution and ends the following 5 April. Subsequent pension input periods will be aligned with the tax year.

5.2 The ‘Annual Allowance’ is defined by HMRC and limits the amount of tax relief available on pension savings in a pension input period. If the total of all pension savings made by you (or for you) exceed the annual allowance, you may be liable to a tax charge.

6. Transferring existing pensions to us

6.1 We may, at our discretion, accept a request to transfer all or part of your pensions from other UK registered pension scheme into your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension. We will not accept a transfer from a pension with Safeguarded Rights (as defined in Section 48(8) of the Pension Schemes Act 2015).

6.2 We may, at our discretion, accept transfers of benefits from other Authorised Schemes, subject to the Trust Deed. Benefits comprising uncrystallised (and crystallised benefits in due course) can be accepted and will all be separately identified within your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension.

6.3 It is your responsibility to ensure a transfer of pension benefits is in your best interests. You should consider taking advice from a suitably qualified financial adviser. We do not provide advice. Our acceptance of a transfer is in no way an endorsement of the suitability for you of the transfer.

6.4 We reserve the right to reasonably refuse or refund a transfer (whether in part or whole).

6.5 Where you request a cash transfer or in-specie transfer of approved investments from an existing pension you take responsibility for initiating all transfer instructions. The Administration Company does not accept responsibility for delays in receiving transfers.

6.6 We can decline a transfer of any of the investments to be transferred. This will be limited to investments we are unable to hold. We will inform you if this is the case.

6.7 You agree that we may obtain any information we believe is necessary from your previous pension scheme to comply with Applicable Law.

7. Right to cancel your product

7.1 You may change your mind and cancel your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension by emailing us at hi@circa5000.com within 30 days from the date of opening the CIRCA5000 Personal Pension . If you cancel your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension within the cancellation period, you may not get back the full amount you invested. We will pay back your initial contribution made within this period, less any fall in value of investments you have made due to market movements and any adviser firm charges that have been paid to your appointed adviser firm.

7.2 Where you have transferred into the CIRCA5000 Personal Pension from another Authorised Scheme, you may change your mind and cancel the transfer at hi@circa5000.com within 30 days from the date of requesting the transfer. If your Transferring Authorised Scheme has already released the transfer value, they may refuse to take your transfer back. You will need to choose an alternative Authorised Scheme to receive the transfer value. We’ll pay back your transfer, less any fall in value of investments you have made due to market movements and any charges that have been paid to CIRCA5000.

7.3 These Terms and Conditions will apply until your membership of the Scheme ceases or your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension is closed. Termination of these Terms and Conditions shall not affect accrued rights, existing commitments or any contractual provision intended to survive termination. We reserve the right to close your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension if you have not made any contributions or a transfer of benefits from another Authorised Scheme, within six months of the date of your application.

8. Cash Management and Interest

8.1 The custodian will hold contributions paid, and cash transfers made into your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension in a pooled client account in accordance with the Trust Deed and Applicable Law. Any Cash held by the custodian will be held as client money and managed in accordance with the FCA Rules.

8.2 Interest received by the Custodian is allocated to your SIPP Account. Cash held, where applicable, earns interest from the day it has been identified as relating to you and it is credited to your Account.

8.3 Interest is accrued based on the cash held within your SIPP Account and applied to your Account within a reasonable amount of time of it being received by the Custodian, as long as the Account remains open.

8.4 Interest will be calculated and applied gross to your SIPP Account.

8.5 The average interest rates paid to Clients and the prevailing bank rates may change on a frequent basis. You agree that we do not have to notify you of any changes in these but these rates will be published via the Custodian’s website (www.seccl.tech).

9. Your Assets

9.1 The Assets within your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension will be held in the name of the nominee on behalf of the custodian. The Trustee remains the beneficial owner.

9.2 CIRCA5000 Personal Pension permitted investment range is currently restricted to the cash and assets meeting the FCA’s definition of “standard investments” all of which must be capable of being held by the custodian and administered by us. Broadly speaking this means an asset has to be an FCA authorised or recognised collective investment scheme or a listed security and capable of being valued on a regular basis and sold within 30 days.

9.3 Any investment income, including interest, or capital gains from your investments will be held by the custodian on your behalf and will form part of the assets and, therefore, value of your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension.

9.4 All investment instructions are made by you or your adviser firm to Seccl Custody Limited and neither Seccl Custody Limited nor Digital Pension Trustee Limited shall be responsible for any investment decision.

9.5 The Administration Company has discretion to direct the Trustee to dispose of an Asset without consultation with you or your prior agreement when the following situation occurs:

9.5.1 the continued retention of an Asset would be unlawful

9.5.2 the continued retention of the Asset would impose tax or other costs which your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension may not be able to meet

9.5.3 the Asset needs to be disposed of to meet any tax liability or other liabilities or costs (including our own) (see section 4.8)

9.5.4 where there are insufficient funds in your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension to pay amounts due to us, HMRC or to pay benefits or other payments due (see sections 4.8 and 9.5)

9.5.5 to comply with a court order.

10. CIRCA5000 Personal Pension statements

10.1 We will provide you with a number of statements: an annual pensions statement, quarterly valuation statements and any other such statements required by Applicable Law, showing you a summary and valuation of all your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension Assets and every transaction executed for you in the previous reporting period. Your valuation statements will be made available for you to view in the secure online document store, and you agree that you will access the secure online document store from time to time in order to review your most recent valuation statement. You agree to tell us of any discrepancy or issues with these valuation statements in reasonable timeframe. In the absence of any such notification, we will be entitled to assume that the valuation is an accurate reflection of your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension.

11. Transfers out

11.1 We, on behalf of the Trustee, have discretion over whether to accept your request to transfer out the value of your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension to another Authorised Scheme.

11.2 We will not transfer out benefits in accordance with these Terms and Conditions unless we are satisfied as to each of the following:

11.2.1 We have proper authority and approval to make the transfer out

11.2.2 All outstanding fees, charges and liabilities have been settled

11.2.3 Making the transfer out is not likely to prejudice any protected benefits or be unlawful or be made to an unrecognised or unregistered pension scheme or be made to a scheme suspected of being involved in any kind of investment scam or pensions liberation.

11.3 We will not transfer out benefits to Recognised Overseas Pension Schemes (ROPS).

11.4 In some circumstances, it may be necessary for us to delay a transfer out, particularly where we are unable to realise or re-register some of the assets, particularly assets that are not readily realisable. Such circumstances could lead to you having to defer transferring out or taking benefits.

11.5 In the event that you are transferring-out to take retirement income or benefits you will be required to discuss your options with, Pension Wise from MoneyHelper https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/pensions-and-retirement/pension-wise.

11.6 If we receive an income payment, a dividend or other cash amount relating to your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension , after you have transferred out from your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension , we will ensure that such payments will be sent onto the receiving Authorised Scheme in accordance with the strict requirements set out in Applicable Law.

11.7 In the limited circumstances permitted by Applicable Law, such as the winding up of the Scheme, we shall be entitled to transfer out the value of your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension without your consent or instructions.

12. CIRCA5000 Personal Pension charges

12.1 Charges apply to your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension in relation to your membership of the Scheme.

12.2 You authorise the deduction and retention of all charges, applicable tax, and reasonable expenses from your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension bank account. You agree that charges can be rounded up to the nearest whole £1.

12.3 We will charge the following product charge, based on the value of your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension.

12.3.1 For the portion of your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension in ‘accumulation’ (i.e., from which no benefits are being taken): an annual platform fee of 0.45% (charged monthly) and a monthly £1 subscription charge.

12.3.2 For the portion of your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension in drawdown (i.e., from which benefits are being taken): an annual platform fee of 0.45% (charged monthly) and a £1 monthly subscription charge.

12.3.3 We will charge you a £30 transfer-out fee if you decide to transfer-out within 12 months of your transfer-in date. The transfer-in date is the date in which we received the funds from the ceding pension administrator.

12.3.4 Other costs, including taxes, may arise which are not paid via us or imposed by us.

12.4 Where permitted by Applicable Law, we are entitled to recover costs not stipulated in but incurred by us in the administration of your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension. These costs include, but are not limited to, any losses, claims or liabilities involved with acquiring, valuing or disposing of any Assets; administration costs involved with complying with any court orders; disbursements or other charges or commissions levied by any investment or other professional advisers in line with the Terms and Conditions agreed with them; any tax charges, industry levies, duties or liabilities.

12.5 We will provide you with an annual illustration showing the effect of costs and charges on the return of your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension.

12.6 All charges, fees and expenses due are deducted from your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension bank account. Where there are insufficient funds within the CIRCA5000 Personal Pension bank account, we may require you to pay further funds into the CIRCA5000 Personal Pension bank account or dispose of assets to meet the amount due. We are entitled to direct the disposal of CIRCA5000 Personal Pension assets proportionately if the amount remains unpaid after 30 days.

12.7 Where amounts due to us remain outstanding for more than 30 days, we are entitled to add interest to the sum outstanding at a rate of 3% AER above the Bank of England’s base rate.

12.8 We are entitled to increase charges each year with effect from 1st May in line with the increase in the Average Weekly Earnings Index plus 1% which is published by the Government Office of National Statistics for the twelve-month period ending 30th September of the preceding year. Where charges are increased in line with this clause no notice will be given.

12.9 We may facilitate through your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension the payment of any adviser firm charges which you have agreed with your adviser firm to be paid in this way.

12.10 We also have the right to increase charges in certain circumstances, as outlined in Clause 14.

13. Closing your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension

13.1 If you decide to close your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension , you cannot automatically withdraw the value. The assets or cash held in your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension can only be transferred out to another Authorised Scheme in accordance with these Terms and Conditions and the Trust Deed.

13.2 We may close your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension on giving you notification, if (i) we cease to act as Administration Company and a suitable replacement cannot be found, or (ii) it becomes impractical to continue to administer your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension in accordance with any Applicable Law. 

13.3 If we close your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension on these grounds, we will give you at least 90 days’ notice of the closure and will explain your options for transferring out to another Authorised Scheme.

14. Your personal information

14.1 We are the data controller for the personal information you give us. We will not pass your personal information to anyone, other than as detailed in our Privacy Policy which can be found at www.circa5000.com. Seccl’s privacy policy can be found at www.seccl.tech . By accepting these Terms and Conditions, you agree and consent to our obtaining, using, and storing your personal information as set out in our Privacy Policy.

15. Intellectual property

15.1 All copyright, trademarks and other intellectual property in the materials and information on our website are owned or licensed by Seccl Technology Limited or by external content providers. Nothing in these Terms and Conditions or on the website should be regarded as granting any licence or right to or in any trademark or service mark of Seccl Technology or any third party.

16. Complaints & FSCS cover

16.1 If you have a complaint about any element of the CIRCA5000 Personal Pension please contact us at by email at hi@circa5000.com or via telephone on: 0151 452 6655. CIRCA5000’s lines are open, Monday to Friday 09:00 to 17:00, excluding bank holidays.

16.2 Your complaint will be handled by a person of appropriate competence and experience. That person will not have been directly involved in the matter which is the subject of the complaint

16.3 We will endeavour to resolve any complaint as soon as possible

16.4 If a final response has not been issued within four weeks of receipt of your complaint, we will write to you providing a holding response that will indicate when we will make further contact. This further contact will be within eight weeks of receipt of the complaint

16.5 By the end of the eight weeks, we must send you either a final response or a response which explains that we are still investigating the complaint, giving reasons for the delay and likely timescales. We will also, where appropriate, provide you with details of the Financial Ombudsman Service, along with a copy of their leaflet ‘Your Complaint and the Ombudsman’ and a statement confirming that an approach can be made by you to the Financial Ombudsman Service if you are dissatisfied with the outcome or the length of time the matter has taken.

Financial Ombudsman Service

Exchange Tower

Harbour Exchange Square

London

E14 9SR 

Telephone: 0800 023 4567 (call charges will vary)

Email: complaint.info@financial-ombudsman.org.uk

Website: www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk 

The Pensions Ombudsman

10 South Colonnade Canary Wharf

London

E14 4PU 

Telephone: 0800 917 4487 (call charges will vary)

Email: helpline@pensions-ombudman.org.uk

Website: www.pensions-ombudsman.org.uk 

16.6 The CIRCA5000 Personal Pension is covered by the FSCS. You may be entitled to compensation from the FSCS if we are no longer trading or are declared to be in default and cannot meet our obligations to you. This may apply separately to your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension , its assets and any cash held in your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension and the maximum amount of compensation available will depend upon the type of investment business, the FSCS compensation limits applying at the time of any failure and the circumstances of your individual claim. The current compensation limits are as follows:

16.6.1 For cash, such as the money in your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension bank account - £85,000 per eligible claimant, per bank

16.6.2 For assets, £85,000, per eligible claimant, per financial institution (where the relevant financial institution is also covered by the FSCS).

16.7 Our current banking partner is Lloyds Bank plc and we will inform you if this changes. For more information about how the FSCS might apply to you, please contact us or visit the FSCS website at fscs.org.uk. The FSCS’s address is 10th Floor, Beaufort House, 15 St Botolph Street, London EC3A 7QU.

17. Changing or ending these Terms

17.1 You agree to us transferring all or any of our rights and obligations under these Terms and Conditions to any one or more appropriate Seccl companies or any third parties which are appropriately regulated and authorised under Applicable Law. These obligations include the appointments of Seccl Custody Limited as the Administration Company and the appointment of Digital Pension Trustees Limited as the Trustee. If we do this, we will give you at least 90 days’ advance written notice of the transfer. In each case, we shall cease to have any responsibilities to you or your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension from the time that the change takes effect to the extent that those obligations applied to our appointment. The new administration company, or trustee will take on our obligations to provide the services under these Terms and Conditions in our place. We will not transfer our rights and obligations unless we are satisfied that you will not be in a worse position or receive a poorer service.

17.2 We may make reasonable and appropriate changes to these Terms and Conditions at any time whilst your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension is open as follows:

17.2.1 to meet any current or future change in law, including rules established by the FCA, HMRC or The Pensions Regulator, or regulation, guidance or regulatory approach

17.2.2 to make these Terms and Conditions easier to understand, including to correct any inaccuracies, omissions, errors or ambiguities

17.2.3 to take account of any reorganisation of the Seccl companies, or a transfer of rights as outlined at 14.1 above

17.2.4 to reflect any improvements to the services which we offer under these Terms & Conditions, or changes to our systems, our processes and procedures, market practice or customer requirements

17.2.5 to reflect any changes to terms agreed between us and any third parties which are relevant to your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension

17.2.6 other than as described in 9.7 above, we may also make reasonable increases to our charges to reflect any changes to the costs that we incur

17.3 If we do make any changes to the Terms and Conditions, the latest version will always be available on our website at www.circa5000.com and you should refer to them regularly. Where we reasonably consider that changes are material or detrimental to you we will give you a minimum of one month’s notice of the proposed change and our reasons for making the change, unless we are required to make the change sooner (in which case we will give as much notice as we reasonably can).

17.4 Notwithstanding clause 17.3, changes that are necessary due to reasons outside of our control (e.g., a change in legislation/regulation/ tax or interest rates or resulting from an act of a third party) may take effect on reasonable written notice and changes which are immaterial and not to your detriment may take effect immediately and without notice.

17.5 In either case, if you are not happy with any change we make or plan to make to the Terms and Conditions, you can transfer to an Authorised Scheme of your choosing. We will not charge you a fee for this if a fee ever becomes due.

18. CIRCA5000 Personal Pension benefits

18.1 In order to take benefits from your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension. You will be required to transfer your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension to another Authorised Scheme and we will not charge you for this transfer.

18.2 If you are 50 or over, the Government has launched a free and impartial service to help you understand what your choices are and how they work, this can be accessed online, over the telephone by calling 0800 138 3944 or face to face - see https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/pensions-and-retirement/pension-wise.

18.3 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.

18.4 You may be able to take Benefits early if

18.4.1 you have transitional rights to a protected pension age, and you satisfy the conditions in the Trust Deed. A protected pension age was generally available for people who paid into a pension before 6 April 2006 and had a right to take their pension benefits at an earlier age than the current rules allow

18.4.2 the scheme administrator of the scheme you transfer to is satisfied that you are, and will continue to be, incapable of carrying on your occupation because of physical or mental impairment (in this case you must provide medical evidence to show that you have become incapable of carrying on that occupation and will continue to be incapable of returning to it).

19. Death Benefits

19.1 On your death the payments we make, and how these are taxed, will depend on:

19.1.1 the Trust Deed;

19.1.2 your age at the time of death; and

19.1.3 how we exercise our discretion.

19.2 Upon being notified of your death, in order to settle any death Benefits payable under your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension your beneficiaries or legal representatives should send a copy of your death certificate (either original or certified copy) to your financial adviser who will forward it to us.

19.3 On receipt of your death certificate, we will restrict all investment and freeze the portfolio until an instruction is received from the appointed representatives.

19.4 We may, at our complete discretion, decide who should receive a lump sum death benefit and if in what proportion. The list of your potential beneficiaries include any one or more of your beneficiaries, dependants, nominees or successors.

19.5 Where you have made a nomination, we will take your wishes into account but are not bound by them. This will include the ability to establish a new CIRCA5000 Personal Pension for a new Scheme member.

19.6 By exercising our discretion in favour of a dependent, nominee (such nominee must have been nominated by you), or other beneficiary, that dependent, nominee or beneficiary (as applicable) may choose for the Benefits to be paid in one or more of the following ways:

19.6.1 a lump sum death benefit;

19.6.2 income from income drawdown via transfer to another provider); or

19.6.3 the purchase of an annuity.

19.7 We shall deduct any tax from the lump sum for which the Scheme may be liable. All nominees must be selected via our online process.

19.8 On your death the value of your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension can be used to provide a lump sum or an ongoing income or used to buy an annuity. If death occurs before your 75th birthday, then lump sum payments from your CIRCA5000 Personal Pension and income from any new provider will generally not be subject to tax as long as it is possible to make a payment within the two years from the date we are notified of your death. If death occurs on or after your 75th birthday, then any lump sum payments are generally subject to tax.

20. How to contact Seccl

We recommend that you contact Seccl by sending an email to SIPP@seccl.tech or via telephone on 01225 435200, lines are open, Monday to Friday 09:00 to 17:00.

CIRCA5000 can be communicated with by email at hi@circa5000.com or via telephone on: 0151 452 6655. CIRCA5000’s lines are open, Monday to Friday 09:00 to 17:00, excluding bank holidays.

Please do not include any account details when you contact us by email.

Seccl Technology Limited is registered in England and Wales No 10237930. Registered office 20 Manvers Street, Bath, BA1 1JW.

Seccl Custody Limited, is registered in England and Wales No 10430958. Registered Office 20 Manvers Street, Bath, BA1 1JW. Seccl Custody Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, registration Number 793200 and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Seccl Technology Limited.

21. Additional CIRCA5000 Personal Pension Definitions

In addition to the main definitions in part 1 of Section A, the following words and expressions in this Section C have the meanings appearing below: