To build up a fund to provide you with a regular income on retirement for the rest of your life.

To enable you to enjoy generous tax benefits whilst saving for your retirement.

To give you the option of taking part of your fund as tax free cash.

To provide an income or cash amount for your spouse and/or dependants in the event of your death.

If you decide to leave the State Second Pension (S2P, formerly SERPS), to provide you with pension benefits which would exceed the benefits you would otherwise have received from S2P.

You, and if applicable your employer, agree to make payments at regular intervals. You may also agree to pay one-off contributions.

These regular contributions will increase each year automatically unless you decide to stop or postpone these increases.

You will phone our Tele-Servicing Unit whenever you wish to vary your contributions, or whenever changes to your personal circumstances affect your Plan.

Any money you invest in the plan is tied up until you retire, or age 50 if earlier.

You will almost certainly need to review your contributions to allow for the effects of inflation.

To tell us within 30 days if:
•  you change jobs, or become self-employed or employed
•  you cease to be a UK resident
•  you become a member of an occupational pension scheme
•  you become, or stop being, a controlling director
•  you start or stop receiving earnings

If you contract out of S2P you give up the benefits which would have been paid from that scheme unless you earn less than £12,100, in which case you may still receive a small S2P from the Government at State Pension Age in addition to the benefits from this plan. In exchange for this, the Inland Revenue will pay contributions into your plan until your State Pension Date or until you cease to contract out if earlier. These are known as Protected Rights contributions.

The size of your fund on retirement will depend on future investment performance the level of contributions made and the actual age at which you retire.

When you're ready to retire, your pension may be lower than illustrated because:
•  you stopped paying into your plan or take a payment break
•  investment performance is lower than illustrated
•  interest rates when you retire are lower than illustrated
•  you start taking your pension earlier than your chosen retirement date
•  tax rules change
•  charges increase above those illustrated
•  if you transfer your plan your fund may not have had a chance to become as
   large as you had originally planned.

The pension you receive instead of the S2P (your Protected Rights pension) may be less than the S2P you have given up.

The amount of single contribution you will get back will be reduced by any fall in the value of your investment, if you exercise your right to cancel within 14 days of receiving your cancellation notice.

It is a retirement savings plan to help people save for their retirement in a tax-efficient way.

Stakeholder Pension requirements include:
•  cannot charge more than 1/365% per day (about 1% a year) on the value of each
   member's fund
•  must accept payments of as little as £20
•  must allow members to transfer their pension funds in and out without charge
•  must allow payments to be flexible

The Abbey National Life Stakeholder Pension has all of these features.

The Financial Services Authority has published decision trees that will help you to decide whether a stakeholder pension is a good choice for you. These can be found under the 'decision trees' heading on the right hand side.

After reading through the decision tree notes, you should enter your employment status and then follow the prompts on screen. These trees are presented to you as a series of questions, with the route through being determined by the answers you provide to each of the successive questions.

If at any point the decision trees recommend that you seek advice or you are uncertain of your answers, please talk to an Abbey National adviser who will assist you. The decision trees don't help if you are considering leaving S2P - you should always seek advice on this from an Abbey National financial adviser.

You can change your regular payment amount and make one-off payments at any time to top up your plan, subject to HM Revenue & Customs restrictions.

You can stop paying or take a break and restart at a later date if circumstances change. Be aware however that this will reduce your future pension.

You can stop making regular payments at any time. The full value of the plan will continue to be invested, with charges continuing, until you take your pension. The benefits on retirement would be lower than originally anticipated due to fewer payments having been made. You may also be able to restart making payments to the plan at any time, without further charge.

If you have left S2P, there may be a time when it will be beneficial to rejoin it. This time will depend on individual circumstances such as age, sex, and salary and on future investment assumptions. You should always speak to a financial adviser about this.

The size of your pension will depend mainly upon how much has been paid into your plan, how long your fund has had to grow, investment performance and interest rates when you retire.

You'll need to buy another plan before you're 75. This is called an annuity, and you can buy it from most pension companies.

When you take out your plan you tell us the age at which you intend to take your benefits. You may however take some or all of your benefits at any time between ages 50 and 75 even if you are still working. It is possible to take your pension before age 50 if you are forced to retire through serious ill health and can no longer do your job or if HM Revenue & Customs allow people in your occupation to retire early. You may not, however, take your Protected Rights pension until age 60.

You can choose a pension that suits your individual circumstances. This may include a guaranteed minimum payment period for your own pension and a pension for your dependents when you die. Alternatively, you can choose to exchange up to one quarter of your pension for tax-free cash and take a smaller pension. Pensions are taxed as earned income.

You cannot take a cash sum instead of your Protected Rights pension. If you are married, you must provide a pension for yourself, with half of that pension payable to your husband or wife when you die. If you're not married, no pension need be provided for your husband or wife. However, you may choose to include such a pension if you intend to marry at a later date.

Whether you are self-employed, employed or not in employment, you may contribute to a stakeholder pension, contributions may also be made by a third party on your behalf or vice versa. The minimum you can contribute at any time is £20.

HM Revenue & Customs sets a maximum amount that you can pay into your plan in any tax year (a tax year runs from 6 April in one year to 5 April the next year). Everyone can pay up to the earnings threshold (£3,600 for the 2005/06 tax year) each year into a stakeholder pension. You may be able to pay more - the maximum you pay depends on your age and how much you earn.

Your plan can also accept payments from the Government if you leave S2P. On leaving S2P you give up the benefits which would have been paid from that scheme unless you earn less than £12,100, in which case you may still receive a small S2P from the Government at State Pension Age in addition to the benefits from this plan. In exchange for this, the Government will make payments to us until your State pension date or until you rejoin S2P if earlier. You cannot take your Protected Rights pension before age 60.

All payments are eligible for tax relief in some way.

Employers treat contributions as a business expense. Employees do not pay income tax or National Insurance contributions on these payments.

Employees, the self-employed and those not employed pay contributions net of basic rate income tax.

Higher rate relief can be claimed through tax returns.

If you leave S2P you and your employer continue to pay National Insurance contributions at the full rate. The government then gives us part of this to provide you with your Protected Rights pension. A tax credit related to your National Insurance contribution is included.

Currently the funds into which payments are paid are free of UK taxes, except that dividend income from UK equities will have suffered tax at source, which is not recoverable. Other investment income is free of UK income tax and any growth of the investment is free of UK capital gains tax.

The cash sum, which may form part of your benefits when you retire, is also free of tax however your pension will be taxed as earned income.

If you die before you retire the benefits, except your Protected Rights benefits, are normally free of inheritance tax.

Please remember that current tax benefits and rates of tax relief depend on individual circumstances and may be altered or removed by the government in the future without notice.

Payments made are fully invested in the funds of your choice. You can choose from any of the internally or externally managed funds available for this product. You can switch between these funds or redirect future payments to different funds free of charge.

If you do not wish to make a choice, payments will be invested in the Managed Fund.

It is possible to select a number of points in the future when investment units are to be automatically switched from one fund to another, for example, to reduce the effects of market volatility, especially near to retirement.

Payments buy units in the funds you have chosen. The number of units bought depends on the price of each unit. This price can go up or down as the value of the investments within the funds changes. As the unit prices rise and fall so will your plan value. Details of the funds and their investment objectives are in our 'A clear guide to your Stakeholder Pension Plan' leaflet.

Yes, you can transfer your plan to another pension scheme that has been approved by HM Revenue & Customs. There is no charge for doing this.

We will send you regular statements which will show you, among other things, the following:
•  Recent contributions made,
•  The current value of your plan,
•  Your target income when you retire,
•  An estimate of your plan value for comparison with this,
•  What additional contributions may buy,
•  Latest transactions, for example units purchased and sold.

This statement will also give you the telephone number to call whenever you have any queries about your Stakeholder Pension.

Your Stakeholder Pension Plan must be used to provide benefits payable on your death, retirement or incapacity. You cannot personally take money out of your Plan for any purpose other than to purchase retirement benefits from another life insurer or to transfer your funds to another pension arrangement. If you transfer the value of your Plan to another pension arrangement the value may be less than the contributions paid. Further details on this can be found in the leaflet 'A clear guide to your Stakeholder Pension Plan'.

If you wish to receive personal financial advice about retirement planning, please contact your local Abbey branch.

If you have a query relating to stakeholder pensions please call Tele-Servicing on 0845 270 1075*.
Lines are open Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm and Saturday, 8am to 4pm.

*To help us improve our service we may record or monitor phone calls.

Abbey National plc (and companies in the same group) expect to incur sales costs on a typical plan as follows: for regular contributions of £100 per month gross over a 25 year term sales costs would be £558.59 for a single contribution of £1,000 gross over a 25 year term sales costs would be £37.55.

These costs are paid for out of deductions and the amount will depend on the size of the contribution and the length of the plan term.

If you are employed and if you and your employer are both contributing, your cancellation notice will be prepared separately for your contribution and your employer's contribution and issued to you.

All contributions except those paid by HM Revenue & Customs will normally be paid by direct debit. Protected Rights contributions are paid yearly by HM Revenue & Customs.

You will be able to cancel your investment during a two week period after entering into the agreement. You will be advised of this right in more detail (including when it begins and ends, and how to exercise it) in documents that we will send to you at the relevant time.

Abbey National Life may, in exceptional circumstances, defer the cashing in of or switching of units by up to one month, or in the case of a Fund investing directly or indirectly in property, by up to six months. This will not apply if the Funds are being encashed on your death.

If your complaint is about the way your stakeholder pension plan was sold to you by an Abbey National employee our Life Assurance Complaints Unit will investigate it. You should contact them at: Life Assurance Complaints Unit. P O Box 5129, Milton Keynes, MK9 2YN Tel 01908 347898.

If your complaint relates to the service you have received from Abbey National Life, or is about one of its products, you should contact the Customer Relations Team, Customer Services Division, Abbey National Life, Abbey National House, 287 St Vincent Street, Glasgow G2 5NB. Tel 0141 275 8338.

If your complaint has not been settled to your satisfaction within 2 months you can then contact the Financial Ombudsman Service, South Quay Plaza II, 183 Marsh Wall, London E14 9SR. Telephone 0207 964 1000, Fax 0207 964 1001. Complaining to the Ombudsman will not affect your legal rights.

These Key Features give a summary of the Abbey National Life Stakeholder Pension. They don't include the definitions, exclusions, terms and conditions. Further information is contained in our Standard Provisions and 'A clear guide to your Stakeholder Pension Plan' leaflet which are both available on request from an Abbey National Financial adviser or Relationship Manager, if you are in a Group Scheme. You will receive the Standard Provisions and 'A clear guide to you Stakeholder Pension Plan' leaflet when you take out a plan. Together these leaflets answer most of the questions you might ask and let you know where to find the answers to others. The information relating to Protected Rights may not be applicable to you.

Your Abbey National Financial adviser or Relationship Manager will be pleased to answer any queries you may have. If you are in any doubt as to the suitability of the plan for your circumstances, for example, you may have existing pension arrangements and would like personal advice, please contact a Financial adviser.

The information contained in this site is based on our present understanding of current law and HM Revenue & Customs practice. It is not intended as a substitute for legal or other professional advice. If you have any doubts as to the legal or tax implications of the information, we recommend that you seek the advice of a suitable qualified adviser.

You can obtain information on compensation arrangements from us on request.

Abbey National Life plc is the administrator of the Abbey National Life Stakeholder Pension Scheme, in which all contributions will be paid. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Abbey National plc and was established in February 1993.

Abbey National Life plc is the Stakeholder Manager.

This Stakeholder Transfer Plan is provided by Abbey National Life plc which is registered in Scotland number 134205 and has its registered office at 287 St Vincent Street, Glasgow G2 5NB, United Kingdom. Telephone 0141 275 8000.
Abbey National Life provides life, pensions and collective investment scheme products and is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA Registration Number 155353).

Abbey National plc, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA Registration 106054), only advises on its own life assurance, pension, mortgage and collective investment scheme products and acts as an insurance intermediary for general insurance. It is registered in England number 2294747 and has its registered office at Abbey National House, 2 Triton Square, Regents Place, London NW1 3AN, United Kingdom. www.abbey.com Telephone 0870 607 6000.

You can check the above authorisations with the Financial Services Authority at www.fsa.gov.uk/register or by calling them on 0845 606 1234.