UK abbreviations and acronyms

Below are brief descriptions of abbreviations and acronyms specific to the UK, to assist new UK investors.

A-Z
A B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z

A

 * abrdn - Full name of what used to be Aberdeen. Global investment company and asset manager.
 * Acc - Abbreviation for 'Accumulating'. Component of a fund name. Accumulating funds do not pay dividends, but instead reinvest them internally. See: Comparison of accumulating ETFs and distributing ETFs, applicable to both ETFs and OEICs. See also: Inc and Dist.
 * A-day - 6 April 2006. Date that pension tax simplification took effect, coalescing eight previous tax regimes into one single regime for all individual and occupational pensions.
 * AER - Annual Equivalent Rate. Measure of rate of interest used to make comparisons between savings accounts.
 * AMC - Annual Management Charge (funds and ETFs). See also: OCF.
 * APR - Annual Percentage Rate. Measure of rate of interest used to make comparisons when borrowing money.
 * AVC - Additional Voluntary Contribution (pension). Contribution to a pension above standard employer contributions. Mostly relevant to Defined Benefit pension schemes.

B

 * BACS - Bankers' Automated Clearing System. Now known as 'Bacs Payment Schemes Limited (Bacs)'. Electronic payments system. See also: CHAPS and FPS.
 * BCE - Benefit Crystallisation Event (pension). See: UK personal pensions.
 * BOE - Bank Of England
 * BIK - Benefits in Kind. The value of an employer-provided benefit that is not directly monetary. For example, a company car or private health insurance.
 * BPR - Business Property Relief (tax)
 * BTL - Buy To Let. Property, typically residential, and bought specifically to rent.

C

 * CARE - Career Average Revalued Earnings (pension)
 * CETV - Cash Equivalent Transfer Value (pension). The capitalised value of pension benefits in Defined Benefits scheme. Arrived at actuarially.
 * CHAPS - Clearing House Automated Payment System. Electronic payments system. See also: BACS and FPS.
 * CGT - Capital Gains Tax
 * CPI - Consumer Price Index. One of the measures of inflation.
 * CTF - Child Trust Fund. Long-term tax-free savings account for children born between 1 September 2002 and 2 January 2011. Subsumed into Junior Individual Savings Accounts.

D

 * DB - Defined Benefit (pension). An employer pension based on some measure of past salary.
 * DC - Defined Contribution (pension). See: UK personal pensions.
 * DD - Direct Debit. Electronic pre-authorised payment.
 * Dist - Abbreviation for 'Distribution'. Component of a fund name. Accumulating funds do not pay dividends, but instead reinvest them internally; distributing funds pay out dividends regularly. See: Comparison of accumulating ETFs and distributing ETFs, applicable to both ETFs and OEICs. Synonym for: Inc. See also: Acc.
 * DWP - Department for Work and Pensions

E

 * EIS - Enterprise Investment Scheme. Tax-advantaged. See also: SEIS.
 * ERI - Excess Reportable Income (non-UK domiciled funds and ETFs only). Income above the declared dividends that is nevertheless immediately taxable. Can be difficult to uncover for a given fund. Most ETFs and many funds used in the UK are domiciled in Ireland or Luxembourg.
 * ESA - Employment and Support Allowance
 * ETF - Exchange Traded Fund. Legal fund structure. (For a US-centric definition, see: Exchange-traded fund.)

F

 * FA - Financial Adviser. See also: IFA.
 * FAD - Flexi-Access Drawdown. One of three methods of withdrawing from a Defined Contribution pension. See: UK personal pensions. See also: UFPLS.
 * FCA - Financial Conduct Authority
 * FOS - Financial Ombudsman Service
 * FP - Fixed Protection (from reductions in the pension Lifetime Allowance). Often written with the applicable year, for example FP2012, FP2014, and FP2016. See also: IP.
 * FP2012 - Fixed Protection from the 2012 reductions in the pension Lifetime Allowance.
 * FP2014 - Fixed Protection from the 2014 reductions in the pension Lifetime Allowance.
 * FP2016 - Fixed Protection from the 2016 reductions in the pension Lifetime Allowance.
 * FPS - Faster Payments Service. Most commonly used electronic payments service for banking customers.
 * FSAVC - Free Standing Additional Voluntary Contribution (pension). Adjunct pension to an employer scheme. See also: AVC.
 * FSCS - Financial Services Compensation Scheme
 * FTSE - Financial Times Stock Exchange. An index provider. If not qualified, FTSE typically refers to the FTSE 100, the 100 biggest stocks on the London Stock Exchange, but FTSE provides many other indices, often used for index funds. See: FTSE UK indexes.
 * FY - Financial Year, or more formally, Fiscal Year. The UK financial (fiscal) year is the twelve months from 6 April to the following 5 April.

G

 * GIA - General Investing Account. Taxable investing account; that is, not a pension or Individual Savings Account.
 * GMP - Guaranteed Minimum Pension
 * GPP - Group Personal Pension. Employer-provided Defined Contribution pension scheme.

H

 * HL - Hargreaves Lansdown. UK financial services company and investment platform.
 * HMRC - His Majesty's Revenue and Customs. The UK’s tax, payments and customs authority.
 * HYP - High Yield Portfolio. Investing methodology preferred by some UK investors.

I

 * IFA - Independent Financial Advisor. See also: FA.
 * IHT - Inheritance Tax
 * II - Interactive Investor. UK investment platform (distinct from, and not to be confused with, Interactive Brokers).
 * ILG - Index Linked Gilt
 * Inc - Abbreviation for 'Income'. Synonym for: Dist. Component of a fund name. Accumulating funds do not pay dividends, but instead reinvest them internally; distributing funds pay out dividends regularly. See: Comparison of accumulating ETFs and distributing ETFs, applicable to both ETFs and OEICs. See also: Acc.
 * IP - Individual Protection (from reductions in the pension Lifetime Allowance). Often written with the applicable year, for example IP2014 and IP2016. See also: FP.
 * IP2014 - Individual Protection from the 2014 reductions in the pension Lifetime Allowance.
 * IP2016 - Individual Protection from the 2016 reductions in the pension Lifetime Allowance.
 * ISA - Individual Savings Account. Non-pension tax-sheltered account type. Several variants exist. See also: S&S ISA, JISA and LISA.
 * ISIN - International Securities Identification Number. A unique international identifier for a security. See also: SEDOL.
 * IT - Investment Trust

J

 * JISA - Junior Individual Savings Account. See: UK Individual Savings Accounts.

K

 * KID - Key Information Document. A summary of information on an investment, legally required for retail investor protection. Artefact of PRIIPs. Similar to: KIID.
 * KIID - Key Investor Information Document. A summary of information on an investment, legally required for retail investor protection. Artefact of PRIIPs. Similar to: KID.

L

 * L&G - Legal and General. Multinational financial services and asset management company.
 * LDI - Liability Driven Investment. Used by Defined Benefit pensions to match asset acquisitions with future liabilities.
 * LEL - Lower Earnings Limit (National Insurance). Earnings below this are not subject to National Insurance, but also earn no NI credits. See also: UEL.
 * LGPS - Local Government Pension Scheme
 * LISA - Lifetime Individual Savings Account. See: UK Individual Savings Accounts.
 * LSE - London Stock Exchange. Also, London School of Economics, depending on the context.
 * LTA - Lifetime Allowance (pension). See: UK personal pensions.

M

 * MiFID - Markets in Financial Instruments Directive. EU regulation aimed at improving European investor protections.
 * MPAA - Money Purchase Annual Allowance. See: UK personal pensions.
 * MVR - Market Value Reduction. An adjustment made to a With Profits policy.

N

 * NI - National Insurance
 * NICs - National Insurance Contributions
 * NMW - National Minimum Wage
 * NPA - Normal Pension Age. Typically used to refer to the state pension rather than, (variable) employer pensions.

O

 * OCF - Ongoing Charges Figure (funds and ETFs). Costs of running a fund or ETF. Excludes the fund's trading costs.
 * OEIC - Open Ended Investment Company. Legal fund structure, similar to a UK unit trust. See: Investing from the UK.
 * ONS - Office for National Statistics

P

 * P11D - Employer-provided form listing Benefits in Kind. See: P11D.
 * P45 - Employer-provided upon leaving work. Also colloquially used for being fired. See: P45.
 * P60 - End of financial year certificate from your employer, showing income and PAYE taxes for the financial year. See: P60.
 * PA - Per Annum, meaning annually or for a duration of one year. Also, Personal Allowance (tax), depending on the context.
 * PAYE - Pay As You Earn. How income tax is automatically paid by withholding from employment (and most pension) income.
 * PBs - Premium Bonds
 * PCLS - Pension Commencement Lump Sum. Tax-free amount available on putting a pension into payment. Also known as: TFLS. See: UK personal pensions.
 * PEP - Personal Equity Plan. Historical, subsumed into ISA.
 * PIA - Pension Input Amount. Sum of contributions made in a Pension Input Period.
 * PIBS - Permanent Interest Bearing Shares. Securities issued by building societies. Similar but not identical to bonds.
 * PILON - Pay in Lieu of Notice
 * PIP - Pension Input Period. Typically aligned with the Financial Year.
 * PLA - Personalised Lifetime Allowance. Lifetime Allowance based on the value of your pension benefits when taking Individual Protection.
 * PLSA - Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association
 * PPF - Pension Protection Fund
 * PRIIPs - Packaged Retail Investment and Insurance-Based Products. EU regulation aimed at improving European investor protections. Related to MiFID.

Q

 * QROPS - Qualified Recognised Overseas Pension Scheme. See: UK personal pensions.

R

 * RPI - Retail Price Index. One of the measures of inflation.

S

 * S&S ISA - Stocks and Shares Individual Savings Account. See: UK Individual Savings Accounts.
 * SA - Self Assessment (tax). Tax return filing system.
 * SDLT - Stamp Duty Land Tax. Paid on property purchase.
 * SDRT - Stamp Duty Reserve Tax. Paid on share purchases, including Investment Trusts. Notably, not payable on ETF or fund purchases.
 * SEDOL - Stock Exchange Daily Official List. Securities identifier used in the United Kingdom and Ireland for clearing purposes. See also: ISIN.
 * SEIS - Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme. Tax-advantaged. See also: EIS.
 * SERPS - State Earnings-Related Pension Scheme. Historical, now the Second State Pension.
 * SFO - Serious Fraud Office
 * SIPP - Self Invested Personal Pension. See: UK personal pensions.
 * SJP - St James's Place. UK wealth management service. Generally considered pricey.
 * SLA - Standard Lifetime Allowance. The Lifetime Allowance while excluding any personalisation. See: UK personal pensions.
 * SO - Standing Order. Bank instruction to pay a set amount at regular intervals to another account.
 * SP - State Pension
 * SSAS - Small Self Administered Scheme. A type of occupational pension scheme. Trust-based and established individually.
 * SSP - Statutory Sick Pay
 * SWR - Safe Withdrawal Rate (pension, typically). Point of continual debate and contention.

T

 * TESSA - Tax-Exempt Special Savings Account. Historical, subsumed into ISA.
 * TFLS - Tax-Free Lump Sum. Tax-free amount available on putting a pension into payment. Also known as: PCLS. See: UK personal pensions.
 * TPR - The Pensions Regulator

U

 * UCITS - Undertakings for the Collective Investment in Transferable Securities. An EU regulatory framework harmonizing fund management across Europe. Recognised under UK law. A common component of a fund name.
 * UEL - Upper Earnings Limit (National Insurance). Earnings above this are subject to National Insurance at a lower rate than below. See also: LEL.
 * UFPLS - Uncrystallized Funds Pension Lump Sum. One of three methods of withdrawing from a Defined Contribution pension. See: UK personal pensions. See also: FAD.
 * UTR - Unique Taxpayer Reference. Ten-digit number assigned to people who register for tax Self Assessment or who set up a limited companty.

V

 * VAT - Value Added Tax. Tax added to most products and services sold by VAT-registered businesses. Similar to a sales tax. Known in some countries as a goods and services tax (GST).
 * VCT - Venture Capital Trust. Investment vehicle with some specific advantageous tax features.

W

 * WP - With Profits (fund). Insurance based funds, mostly found only in pensions.