We might as well start as we mean to go on and you may realise that the pensions industry loves acronyms. Usually the longer and more complicated the better. So the first one to start the ball rolling is SSAS. That means Small Self Administered Scheme.

A SSAS is an occupational pension scheme (basically a company pension scheme)  that gives its members and trustees lots of flexibility and control over what it invests in. Hence the “self administered” part of its title. The scheme members are most likely to be directors or key employees of a company – which is known as the ‘sponsoring employer’.

The sponsoring employer is the company who pays the contributions to the scheme on behalf of its employees. Contributions can be varied in line with its profits and there is no contractual commitment to pay any level of contributions so no profit one year = no contributions have to be made.