What is Salary Sacrifice?

In simple terms, salary sacrifice is an agreement between an employee and employer to reduce the level of salary of the employee in return for a regular pension contribution.

As both the employee and the employer are no longer subject to National Insurance on the income sacrificed, these savings can be used to either reduce the effective cost of a pension contribution, or to bolster the total amount paid into the pension plan.

This is a perfectly legitimate method of pension saving – as long as the terms and conditions of employment are changed to reflect the reduction in salary, the reduction is made before the calculation of Income Tax and National Insurance, and income is not reduced to below minimum wage.

Reducing Student Loan Repayments

YourMoney.com spoke to David Smith, financial planning director at Tilney Bestinvest, about how consumers can use salary sacrifice to reduce student loan repayments.

“Many students leave university with high hopes of landing a top job but can find themselves undone, with low pay and laden with debt. Repayment of student loans is 9 per cent of income earned above £17,335 for those taking out student loans before September 2012, and £21,000 for those taking a loan out after 1 September 2012,” notes Smith.

This can leave university leavers with a lot less take-home pay than they need to make ends meet. Taking into account Income Tax and National Insurance, a graduate will take home just 59p in the £1 for part of their income earned above the repayment thresholds. This would further reduce to 49p in the £1 for income earned above the basic rate tax threshold and a quite frightening 32p in the £1 for each pound of income earned between £50,000 and £60,000 if the graduate has two children, and is in receipt of Child Benefit payments.

“Salary sacrifice can thus be used to reduce student loan repayments can be reduced. While some may think this is counter-productive as it will take longer to repay the loan, in these days of austerity, there is a massive advantage for low to medium earners to have more take-home pay now, and look to repay this debt later in life when hopefully their income is greater,” believes Smith.

The table below illustrates how an employee earning £30,000 annually would benefit in they elected to use a salary sacrifice arrangement, to contribute to their pension.

“As you can see, the employee will receive the same gross payment into their pension in both instances, but by electing to use salary sacrifice, they have over £600 more net pay each year,” says Smith.

“What’s more, if student loans remain outstanding for certain periods, they can potentially be written off.”

There are, however, potential drawbacks to such an arrangement. At the core of the agreement between the employee and the employer, the employee’s salary must be reduced. This could adversely affect any death-in-service benefits which are linked to a multiple of salary, or maximum loan amounts for mortgages. Such aspects must be taken into account before the agreement is put in place.

“In the end though, there are clear advantages to this kind of arrangement,” believes Smith.

“In addition to the above, it can help in other scenarios such as claiming Child Benefit and maintaining personal allowances. With the right planning, salary sacrifice can provide a benefit even before retirement.”

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