Joining jointly sponsored plans is quicker and less costly than joining a tailor-made employer pension plan. They also enable SMEs with few employees or low contribution levels to join, and the administrative tasks that the company must carry out are simpler than those required in the case of an employer pension plan. Each SME will have its own annex to the plan’s specifications where rules governing its contribution and benefit requirements, among other aspects, will be laid out.

An employer pension plan should be offered to employees with at least one month of seniority in the company, although it could be offered to all employees.

Yes, this is possible.

Total maximum annual contributions to an employer pension plan, including employee and employer contributions on the employee’s behalf, may not exceed €10,000. However, the legal aggregate limit for annual employee contributions to their individual pension plans, insured pension plans or PPAs, employer pension plans, company pension plans or PPSEs and/or mutual pension funds is €1,500. This limit can be increased with individual contributions to the employment pension plan for an amount that will depend on the contributions made by your company in your favor and the income from the work you have:

• Participants with full income from work greater than €60,000 or with contributions from your company greater than €1,500 , may exceed €1,500 of individual contribution for an amount equal to or less than that contributed by your company.
• Participants with full earnings from work of less than €60,000 may exceed €1,500 of individual contribution for an amount equivalent to multiplying the company's contribution by 2.5 if the company's annual contribution is up to €500; or by the result of the operation €1,250 +0.25 x (contribution of the company -€500) if the annual contribution of the company is between €500.01 and €1,500.

The company sponsoring an employment plan must make regular contributions, although there is no minimum amount. The amount is to be set out in the specifications of the employer pension plan, or in the annex thereto in the case of jointly sponsored employer pension plans. The amount can be fixed or based on other factors such as salary, seniority, social security contributions, etc., depending on what’s stated in the specifications or in the annex to the specifications.

The employee’s participation in these products is always voluntary. Although some of these products may have automatic onboarding systems to facilitate participation, the employee always has the final say.