Frequently asked questions

If you’ve built up pension savings with other providers, you may be able to transfer the value of these into the Sky Pension Plan. The final decision on whether or not this will be allowed will be up to the Trustees, but if you want to apply, you should fill in a ‘transfer in request’ form.

You can download a transfer in request form by clicking here.

The Financial Conduct Authority offers useful tips and guidance to help you find a financial adviser, including access to its Financial Services Register which lists the financial advisers it regulates and approves. Go to www.fca.org.uk/consumers/finding-adviser for further details.

Depending on how you chose to use your individual account at retirement, there may or may not be benefits for your spouse/partner if they outlive you. For example, with a traditional annuity, you can choose to buy a pension for your dependant to be paid after your death. However, if you chose to take your individual account as cash, then there will not be any benefits left in the Plan for your spouse/partner. If you chose drawdown, you will have moved your individual account from the Sky Pension Plan.

Your Plan administrator, Buck, will include information about death benefits when writing to you with your options on retirement.

Only the value of your individual account, at the date of your death, would be payable.

If you can’t do your normal job due to illness or injury, after 26 weeks continuous absence you may qualify for 2/3rds of your basic salary minus £5,300 per annum. This is paid for a maximum of up to 5 years, or earlier depending on when you return to work. Whilst you are in receipt of pay, both you and Sky will continue to pay contributions to your individual account within the Plan based on your selected contribution rate and the actual pay you receive.

In addition to this benefit you may also be eligible for State Benefits known as Employment Support Allowance (ESA).

A lump sum equal to the value of your individual account in the Plan at the date of your death will be payable to your beneficiaries, together with a one-off lump sum of 4x your basic salary. These payments are normally tax-free and are payable to your beneficiaries as determined by the Plan’s Trustees. You should ensure that your Expression of Wish details are completed in your Personal Pension Account with Buck so that the Trustees can take into account your wishes when determining your beneficiaries in this context.

For employees who were employed prior to 1 January 2022, if you have a partner, an additional one-off lump sum of 4x your basic salary will be paid. A ‘partner’ is defined under the Plan as either your spouse, or the person you nominate as your partner, regardless of that person’s gender, who:

• Is living with you as if you were married or in a registered civil partnership
• Is financially dependent on you, or who shares a financial interdependence with you 
• Is over 16
• Has the same main residence as you 
• Is not a relative (defined as child, parent or sibling) either by blood or adoption

Information is provided on Sky Benefits.

If you go on parental leave you will remain a member of the Plan. Whilst you are on full pay, your payments to the Plan and Sky’s will stay the same.

If you receive Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) or a reduced contractual salary your payments will be at the same percentage as when you were on full pay, but based on the reduced pay.

Although you will be paying less, the same amount will be going into your individual account. Sky will pay contributions based on your full pay before your parental leave, and Sky will make up the difference between your lower payments and the payments you were making before you went on leave.

If your pay stops completely, all payments to your pension will stop until you return to work.

Your Life Assurance and Income Protection benefits entitlements will continue for the whole of your leave.

Buck, will contact you with your options 6-8 weeks after you leave Sky. If you don’t hear from them, you can contact them on 0330 678 1504.

Buck, will contact you with your options 6-8 weeks after you’ve left Sky. If you don’t hear from them, you can contact them on 0330 678 1504.

Most complaints can be resolved informally and, if your complaint relates to the operation of the Plan, you should raise this initially with Buck via SPP@buck.com. However, the Plan has a formal Internal Dispute Resolution Procedure (IDRP) for complaints that can’t be resolved in this way. If you would like to raise a complaint under the Plan’s IDRP, you should put your complaint in writing to the Pensions Manager at Sky Limited, Grant Way, Isleworth, Middlesex, TW7 5QD. You should explain your complaint, and include details of:

• Your name and address;
• Your date of birth; and
• Your National Insurance number.

If you are not a member of the Plan yourself (because, for example, you are a widow or widower), then you should give the details of the member in respect of whom you are claiming benefits as well as your own details.  If you are making a complaint on behalf of someone else, you should explain your relationship to that person.

Your pension should be included in your financial settlement if you divorce or dissolve your civil partnership. You should notify Buck if you are divorcing at the earliest opportunity as they will need to provide the courts with prescribed information so that your pension can be taken into account as part of any financial settlement.

You are able to transfer all or part of your retirement savings in the Plan to another registered pension scheme (including to a new employer’s pension scheme where, for example, you have left the employment of Sky). If you’re still paying contributions, you can request a partial transfer (though there is a fee for doing so); otherwise you can only request a full transfer if you have left the Plan and stopped paying contributions. The amount transferred will reflect the investment value of your personal account in the Plan (or the relevant proportion of it if you are only partially transferring) as at the date of the transfer. Please note that the transfer-out process is highly regulated to mitigate the risk of pension scams and to ensure that transfers are paid to the correct receiving schemes. Depending on the nature of the receiving scheme in each case, the regulations may require you to have a call with MoneyHelper before the transfer can proceed. As such, please be aware that the process to transfer-out can take several months, but the administrators at Buck will always endeavour to complete this process as quickly as possible. Please help them by ensuring that the transfer-out paperwork is fully completed and submitted to them as early as possible. You are strongly encouraged to take independent financial advice when considering transferring-out.