Your pension and AVC payments are entirely different. Your employer pays 5% into your pension scheme. He pays nothing into your AVC scheme - that is done only by you which is why it is called Voluntary Contributions.
However, you do get tax relief on AVC contributions at your highest tax rate e.g. if your tax rate is 40%, then for every £1 you put in, the govt give you 40 pence of it. It is doubtful if you will find a better investment anywhere than that!!
[ 14 January 2002: Message edited by: willoman ]</p>