WHY PENSION EDUCATION?
In the United Kingdom it is estimated that there are around 3 million people who are seriously under saving for retirement and retiring too soon.  The government, the wider public sector, voluntary and community groups have an important role to play in ensuring that the key messages about the value of saving for retirement are communicated to all groups.

To address this issue Sahara
Communities Abroad (SACOMA) will be delivering a two year Pension Education Project to encourage workers from Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities in London and other parts of the UK to take up pension provision.The project will work across all ages and focus on employees in low level jobs and those self employed or running their own businesses.

AIMS & OBJECTIVES:
Our primary aims are to:
·    raise awareness of the options available to workers
·    help them to understand what works best for them
·    empower individuals to make plans and take informed decisions
·    provide further advice on pension education.

The objectives of the project are to:
Promote the importance of saving, particularly those at risk of not saving
Promote possible saving options and explore other options for maximizing retirement
Income Support people with general and specialist advice 
Provide constant monitoring and evaluation of the users’ needs. 

WHO CAN USE THIS SERVICE?
The Pension Education service is open to all individuals needing pension advice and education, with particular emphasis on black minority ethnic (BME) groups including women, and young workers of African origin.

Our service will target the following:
Self-employed people earning over £7,500 p.a with no pension savings.
Employed people with earnings over £10,000 p.a  and appear to be at risk of under
saving.
BME-led small to medium enterprises (SMEs) with fewer than 100 employees

SACOMA OUTREACH
SACOMA will target a diverse range of people working across various employment sectors including Health and Social Care, Hospitality, Leisure, Tourism, Catering and Construction. The areas of outreach will include people living in London and other UK cities such as Reading, Cheltenham, Gloucester, Luton, Liverpool,
Birmingham, Coventry and Kent.

ADVICE SURGERIES:
SACOMA will ensure clients receive clear and easy to follow advice and information tailored for one’s specific needs. We will explain to you all you need to know about pensions including:
How your income and employment status relate to your pension developing a personal plan for retirement overcoming barriers to pensions investment tackling the facts and myths about retirement forecasting how much you can expect upon retirement pension options how ‘money purchase’ pensions work’, annuities and salary related schemes, pensions and tax, making use of ‘free’ money getting retirement income from property’ protecting your pension.

For those who enrol on our various training programmes, SACOMA will not only help place you into work, but will ensure you benefit from the Pensions Education Programme.

Remember:
The Quality of life you can expect
in the future will depend on what you
contribute in the present