Am i correct in thinking that the safest way to cover a substantial contribution to company pension scheme is to treat it as a "salary sacrifice" covered by a company minute? Has anyone had experience of this with aptly worded minute?
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Salary sacrifice
Thanks for that.The Directors do not have formal written contracts of employment (as is the case with majority of directors of small companies) does this matter?
No
A board minute is no evidence of an employee's wish to sacrifice some of the salary or bonus to which he is entitled under his contract of employment. You need a letter signed by both employer and employee to serve as a variation of the terms of his employment and it obviously needs to be done before the salary/bonus is due to be paid in order to be effective.
Have a look at this recent thread Directors pensions / remuneration.
Unwritten contract
Whatever the format of the contract, it is an essential feature that the employee is paid for his work and therefore, an essential pre-requisite that the employee foregoes his right to receive payment in cash in exchange for the employer making a contribution directly into his personal pension policy.
pension contribution
Instead of going down the salary sacrifice route would a company minute worded "AS a result of the excellent profits of the company for the year the board has recommended to reward the directors with a contribution of £x to the Company's pension scheme" ?