After a thorough review, Creative Pension Trust’s Board of Trustees have decided to change the investment options available to members of our Creative Workplace Pension plan. If you’ve just received a communication about this from us, this page will explain more about the changes, what they mean, and the options you have.
Cushon Group is a provider of workplace savings, investments and pensions. They operate throughout the UK and Northern Ireland.
They also manage the Cushon Master Trust which, like your current pension scheme with Creative Pension Trust, is chosen by many employers to help members save for the future.
Cushon is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and The Pensions Regulator.
In 2022, Creative Pension Trust and Creative, sponsor of Creative Pension Trust, became part of the Cushon Group. Cushon owns a number of national workplace pension schemes including Cushon Master Trust and Workers Pension Trust.
Cushon Core is our new default investment strategy – a way to invest your money automatically according to your age. Cushon Core‘s primary aim is to give your money the opportunity to grow over the long term, and to do so in a sustainable way that reduces carbon emissions and benefits the environment and society.
A default investment strategy is chosen by our Trustees to invest your money automatically, so you don’t need to make any decisions about where your money is invested if you don’t want to.
If you haven’t chosen your own investments before, haven’t received guidance on your investments, or aren’t comfortable making investment decisions, you will likely be in our existing default investment strategy, which is changing to Cushon Core.
A default investment strategy like Cushon Core is designed to grow your money over the long term in a sustainable way.
While you are younger, and until you get to within 7 years of your Target Retirement Age, your pension pot is invested in a well-diversified mix of global equities and bonds. These investments are chosen to provide long-term growth potential.
When making investment decisions, our Trustees also consider how the organisations issuing these investments positively impact on the environment, people and society. This is called responsible investing and is an important element of Cushon Core. Our investment managers have been selected because they offer strong support for these considerations.
This short video can help clarify what happens to your money when you pay into a pension with Creative Pension Trust:
Once you start getting nearer towards the time you may want to access your pension, your investments will switch to focus less on growing your money and more on conserving it.
We will start changing the way your pension is invested once you get to 7 years before your Target Retirement Age. Your Target Retirement Age is when you think you might want to start accessing your pension pot.
These changes aim to reduce the likelihood of large changes in the value of your pension as you approach your Target Retirement Age. Although there are no guarantees, this can help to smooth out some of the larger ups and downs in the value of your pension.
You can change your Target Retirement Age using the Creative Pension Trust Member Portal.
You can change it any time and it’s really important that you review it regularly if your plans change. This helps us invest your pension optimally for your age. If you don’t tell us your Target Retirement Age, we’ll assume it’s 65.
Just so you know, you don’t have to take your pension when you reach your Target Retirement Age. You can keep it until you need it.
Need some help to update your planned retirement age on the Creative Pension Trust Member Portal? Check out this step-by-step video:
Although the Trustees are ultimately responsible for looking after your pension, they appoint fund managers who invest your money in different ways. We work with a range of respected, specialist fund managers like Macquarie, Lombard Odier, Ninety One and Wellington.
If you are in our existing default investment strategy, the costs you pay today do not change when you move to Cushon Core.
These consist of a fixed monthly membership fee and a Fund Management Charge. For Cushon Core, the Fund Management Charge is 0.3% per annum.
If you choose to select your own investments, your Fund Management Charge will vary. These are provided in your plan’s Investment Choices Guide, which is available in the Creative Pension Trust Member Portal.
The Trustees are responsible for how your pension pot is invested. After a thorough review, the Trustees have concluded that a move to Cushon Core will improve the likely financial outcomes for you and all members in our Creative Auto Enrolment Pension plan.
Additionally, the Trustees are responsible for overseeing a credible plan for transitioning Creative Pension Trust to Net Zero. As part of their review, they have concluded that the move to Cushon Core provides this plan.
We want to give you the best pension possible whilst also helping make the world a better place for you to retire into. This includes helping to tackle climate change. In the last two years, we’ve heard from many members who want to see us do more – so we are.
With the primary goal of helping to grow your pension over the long term, Cushon Core also makes an immediate 60% reduction in carbon emissions compared to equivalent investments that that do not take into account their impact on our climate.
You can download the Cushon Core factsheet below. We’ll provide you with a link to this factsheet again when we write to you by email, or we’ll provide a printed copy if we write to you by post.
You can also access the Investment Choices Guide for your plan any time which you can easily find in the Documents section on the Creative Pension Trust Member Portal. This provides more information about investing and the choices in your plan.
Soon, the existing range of self-select investments for your plan will be closed.
You have two choices:
You can choose from any number of our self-select funds according to your wishes. If you want to select your own investments, you’ll be able to do this between 21 February 2024 and 27 March 2024 using the Creative Pension Trust Member Portal:
| Self-select fund | Fund Manager Charge* |
| Cushon Sustainable Global Equity | 0.365% |
| Cushon Sustainable UK Equity | 0.324% |
| Cushon Sustainable Europe (ex UK) Equity | 0.373% |
| Cushon Sustainable Japanese Equity | 0.373% |
| Cushon Sustainable North American Equity | 0.373% |
| Cushon Sustainable Pacific ex Japan Equity | 0.373% |
| Cushon Sustainable Emerging Market Equity | 0.520% |
| Cushon Fixed Interest Gilts | 0.308% |
| Cushon Index Linked Gilts | 0.308% |
| Cushon Sustainable UK Corporate Bonds | 0.355% |
| Cushon Cash | 0.320% |
| Cushon Shariah | 0.570% |
| Cushon Global Impact | 0.670% |
*Please note these fund management charges are in addition to our monthly membership fee. Some funds may also have additional expenses deducted by the fund manager – details are provided on the relevant fund fact sheets. Members can find details on the total charges that apply in their Member Guide, available to download from the Creative Pension Trust Member Portal.
Unlike Cushon Core, if you choose to invest in one or more self-select funds, your investments will not automatically change when you are 7 years from your Target Retirement Age. It’s important to keep reviewing your investments the closer you get to accessing your pension to make sure they remain suitable.
Between 21 February 2024 – 27 March 2024, you will be able to view and select from our range of self-select funds and switch your pension pot to one or more of these funds by using the Creative Pension Trust Member Portal.
If you’d like some help to manage your investments on the Creative Pension trust Member Portal, view our help centre article or take a look at the following video:
You can access the Investment Choices Guide for your plan any time in the Creative Pension Trust Member Portal. This provides more information about investing and the choices in your plan.
Although the Trustees are ultimately responsible for managing your pension, they appoint fund managers who are responsible for investing money paid into our self-select fund range. We work with respected fund managers like Legal & General, HSBC and Baillie Gifford to provide our range of self-select funds. You can find the fund manager details in the factsheet for each fund in the Creative Pension Trust Member Portal.
Today you pay a fixed monthly membership fee, which will not change.
You also pay a Fund Management Charge. For Cushon Core this is 0.30% – the same as our existing default investment strategy
If you choose to select your own investments, your Fund Management Charge will vary according to each fund. These are provided in your plan’s Investment Choices Guide, which is available in the Creative Pension Trust Member Portal.
You don’t need to do anything. This change will take place automatically and everything will be taken care of on your behalf.
We will write to you to confirm when these changes will be made, either by email or post.
Just so you know, you can always change your investments with us at a later date if you change your mind.
You will need to select your new investments online using the Creative Pension Trust Member Portal.
You’ll need to make your new selection between 21 February 2024 and 27 March 2024. We will write to you to let you know how to do this and when you will need to have made your selection by. This will be either by email or post.
Just so you know, you can always change your investments with us at a later date if you change your mind.
You can obtain guidance and more information about workplace pensions from www.moneyhelper.org.uk, which is a government service that offers free, impartial guidance. Alternatively, you can call MoneyHelper on 0800 011 3797.
You can also get advice from an independent financial adviser, though you may have to pay for it. To find an adviser near you visit MoneyHelper at: https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/getting-help-and-advice/financial-advisers/choosing-a-financial-adviser
You’ll receive your username by email after you join us and make your first contribution. If you can’t find your username, you can retrieve it through the Creative Pension Trust Member Portal log-in page.
If you’ve forgotten your password, it can be reset from the Creative Pension Trust Member Portal log-in page. You just need your current username and to be able to answer one of your security questions.
For security reasons, your account will be locked if you make five unsuccessful attempts to log in. You can contact us to request that your account is unlocked.
