Detailing World Forum banner

Auto enrolment pensions

33K views 79 replies 15 participants last post by  fatdazza 
#1 ·
Hi all

Hoping someone will know more about this than me as I only know the basics and have just discovered an issue...

Our firm stated this scheme a couple of years ago and I decided to opt out as I keep private savings. However, I've noticed that I've been contributing again since August without being told so will be having a chat with our HR on Monday!

Granted, I should have been keeping better track of my finances the last few months but I've been horrendously busy!

I'm basically going to be opting out and asking for the full 5% they've taken since August. Could there be any issues with this? It just seems like it's a mistake but can they auto enrol you again without saying anything??
 
#5 ·
Just a quick update.

I've discussed this with a colleague this morning who know a bit more about the scheme.

Our firm introduced this last August (I thought it was 2016 previously - Guess it makes little to no difference!) and has used staggered contributions - 1% up to April, 3% thereafter until August when they went up to 5%.

He was under the impression that you have to opt out of each stage or you're auto enrolled again, although I can't recall ever being told that or seeing any notification regarding being auto enrolled again in August.

I've dropped our HR guys a line now, seems to be getting more confusing by the second! :rolleyes:
 
#6 ·
I had the same issue with my company. All i had to do was get the details for the pension company from HR and give them a call. They refunded my money direct to my account. Told HR not to auto enroll me but il have to do that every 3 years as its policy to auto enroll every 3 years.
 
#8 · (Edited)
I believe all companies now have to offer a pension scheme of some sort.

Throughout my working life it was always best to join a company scheme as they usually make a contribution. In a sense free money or if you like a hidden pay rise to your pension pot.

Once you leave the firm it is your money not the companies and you should be in a position to transfer it if you have a better place to invest it.

Opting out because you don't want to make any pension savings is now definitely short sighted.
 
#10 ·
If anybody is not taking this from their employer, they'd better have a very good reason as to why not.

It is not only free money from your employer, it is also free money from the government from the tax side of things. So double free money, there are not many things where you get that anymore!
Our previous pension scheme was better. My employer was contributing 5% of my salary and it was optional whether you wanted to add to that.

I keep my own savings and investments. I don't see why it's a good idea to contribute to a scheme which going off the projections won't be of huge benefit if our generation is permitted to retire.

Let's face it, they're trying to compensate for the absolute disaster which is heading towards us in terms of the state pension, which isn't really sustainable. If they keep devaluing the currency the way that they are, it'll be hopeless :)
 
#9 ·
If anybody is not taking this from their employer, they'd better have a very good reason as to why not.

It is not only free money from your employer, it is also free money from the government from the tax side of things. So double free money, there are not many things where you get that anymore!
 
#11 ·
You’re turning down (tax exempt) free money from your employer?

Seems mad to me.

If the issue is that you don’t want to have to match the employer contribution- you should speak to your HR and see if your contribution is mandatory- it may not be. After 2 years service at my employer, I’ve been able to keep the employer contribution but take mine down to nil.

Also - the point about not believing the scheme will make a return - you should be able to (to some extent) choose where the money is invested. All the pension providers have a variety of products, from low risk low return, to high risk and very variable options. The usual advice is that early on in your career is when you should take most risk in your investments, and scale that down over time (e.g. moving from equities into bonds).


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#14 ·
You're turning down (tax exempt) free money from your employer?

Seems mad to me.

If the issue is that you don't want to have to match the employer contribution- you should speak to your HR and see if your contribution is mandatory- it may not be. After 2 years service at my employer, I've been able to keep the employer contribution but take mine down to nil.

Also - the point about not believing the scheme will make a return - you should be able to (to some extent) choose where the money is invested. All the pension providers have a variety of products, from low risk low return, to high risk and very variable options. The usual advice is that early on in your career is when you should take most risk in your investments, and scale that down over time (e.g. moving from equities into bonds).

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
It is mandatory unfortunately. If you stop the contributions, the company does.

And one other point, pension contributions are taken before anything else so there is less money for tax and it lowers your NI contribution. Basically it is more tax efficient to be in the company scheme.
More tax efficient perhaps, but a couple of hundred £'s a month less in my account in exchange for a vague promise of being able to retire and the government not devaluing the currency with quantitative easing to the point that their free money scheme means nothing :lol:

Not contributing to your employers pension is madness, as above it's free money. No matter how many other saving and investments you have everyone loves free money.

Even if you only stuc k in £100 a month, and it's matched by your emplyer, that's £140 free every single month, for doing nothing.
I'm not a socialist so don't have an affinity for free stuff... I just want to receive the maximum amount of the money I've worked for and invest it freely where I choose to. The whole automatic principle makes it seem like even more of a con.

On the flip side, I'd say it's madness to believe that these schemes make sense... Fast forward 30/40 years and I'm sure we'll see what a mess yet more government intervention has caused... I think it's much more sensible to buy bullion.
 
#13 ·
I keep my own savings and investments. I don't see why it's a good idea to contribute to a scheme which going off the projections won't be of huge benefit if our generation is permitted to retire.
Not contributing to your employers pension is madness, as above it's free money. No matter how many other saving and investments you have everyone loves free money.

Even if you only stuc k in £100 a month, and it's matched by your emplyer, that's £140 free every single month, for doing nothing.
 
#17 · (Edited)
Property and bullion, it's all good. :thumb:

I think we need to go back to basics here, and separate a couple of issues.

1. Your employer is offering you money to put into a pot, tax free at the point of putting it in there, if you match the contribution.

I think we can all agree that's a good thing.

2. Now - what happens to the money in that pot is up to you. You can invest it in shares, bonds, a combination of both, or you may even be able to buy a gold tracker. You just need to tell the pension provider.

I'd strongly suggest you find out who the pension provider is, and talk to them about your investment options.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Meh, they're offering to match a fixed sum I've been forced to pay which is potentially good if a series of ambiguous conditions are met over the next few decades. I preferred it when they were contributing regardless and I wasn't being forced to.

I've not received any information as to what happens to the money in that pot - The whole process has been ridiculous with conflicting info all over the place. Even the colleague I spoke to who knows a lot more about it said it's really slapdash.

I mean, the whole 1%, 3%, 5% thing every few months and apparently having to opt out at each stage (albeit this is unconfirmed as yet) is patently ludicrous. HR still haven't got back to me after three days either:rolleyes:

Ultimately, I'm not going to be contributing. More than happy to receive as much of my salary as possible and do what I want with it :)
 
#16 ·
I think we need to go back to basics here, and separate a couple of issues.

1. Your employer is offering you money to put into a pot, tax free at the point of putting it in there, if you match the contribution.

I think we can all agree that’s a good thing.

2. Now - what happens to the money in that pot is up to you. You can invest it in shares, bonds, a combination of both, or you may even be able to buy a gold tracker. You just need to tell the pension provider.

I’d strongly suggest you find out who the pension provider is, and talk to them about your investment options.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#20 ·
I'm sitting on a practically fool proof nest egg, not looking at buying pimped out mobility scooters in 40 years on a dubious promise of a decent investment if the government doesn't continually raid pensions, extend retirement age and crash the currency. :thumb:.

But yeah, good luck to all and their choices with their money :lol:

Under auto enrolment every 3 years from the staging date the scheme has to re enrol all eligible job holders. The employer has a responsibility to inform anyone that has previously opted out off the scheme what is happening and they have to be reenrolled back into the scheme at which point you can opt out again. You do not have to opt out each year or when an increase happens
You'd think I'd remember them notifying me then, especially if it was only in August. Still waiting on HR, almost as efficient as our admin guys at this point :rolleyes:
 
#19 ·
Under auto enrolment every 3 years from the staging date the scheme has to re enrol all eligible job holders. The employer has a responsibility to inform anyone that has previously opted out off the scheme what is happening and they have to be reenrolled back into the scheme at which point you can opt out again. You do not have to opt out each year or when an increase happens
 
#28 · (Edited)
The main concern is devaluation of the currency - It's all well and good to put £x away, but if in the future those same £'s are worth less (or considerably less), then you're done for.
I don't think you're grasping the fact the you can invest the conributions into your pension pot exactly how you please, so a portfolio consisting of gold and property for example. So the only difference between what you're doing is that with a pension you would have more than twice as much.

Nothing wrong with you investing in property, but you'll obvioulsy have capital gains tax to pay whn you sell or tax to pay if you're renting the properties out.

If you speak to any wealth manager or financial advisor they will always say invest as much as you can into your pension. It's tax efficent and it's free money.
 
#36 · (Edited)
It was never a case of "my investments are better than your Ponzi scheme" (although they are);
But they're not better, our ponzi schemes as you call them increase the monthly investment by 120%, if a basic rate tax payer, every month before any increase from the investment. But as you say, you're happy and it's your money so that's all that matters.

So you have bit of precious metals you need to store somewhere? I presume you stuff them in the mattress :)
 
#40 ·
You’d be better off NOT saving that £100 a month (or whatever the figure is) by buying gold.

Instead, accept £100 a month coming out of your salary. That’ll be more than doubled by your employer. Invest that sum in a gold ETF in your pension.

Better yet, diversify across several asset classes. Equities, bonds, property, commodities.

By the way, it’s not theft if they’re giving you money.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#41 ·
[You'd think I'd remember them notifying me then, especially if it was only in August. Still waiting on HR, almost as efficient as our admin guys at this point*QUOTE]

I would go and speak to the provider. First thing I would ask is when the scheme staged and I would check if there has been a Re enrolment recently. Ultimately if you have opted out and they have made an unlawful deduction then they should refund you
 
#42 ·
So I've finally heard back from HR, only took a week and a half against their target of 72hrs...

I'll copy and paste their email:-

"In august we introduced a new pension contribution of 5% with employer contributions at 3%. Under government legislation, we have to opt every employee in to a new scheme – regardless of previous opt out. You will be able to opt out in the benefit window that opens at the end of this week."

... So basically, just throw everyone in again seemingly without notice... and I'm sure they were meant to match the contribution! What a great system :lol:

This is the point where I pull our director and have an aneurism at him, which will hopefully have the knock on effect of him having an aneurism at HR and the money being refunded.

I spoke to him about it last Friday in any event and he asked that I keep him updated. He did indicate that it's just a matter of having it refunded but I'm guessing if they did let me know about the continual auto enrolment and I accidentally deleted the email or whatever, then I'll be stuck with having to opt out again at the end of the week and will be approx. £850.00 down from August :rolleyes:

Watch this space!
 
#43 ·
I'll be stuck with having to opt out again at the end of the week and will be approx. £850.00 down from August :rolleyes:
You're not £850 down, the money is in your pension, along with the 3% from your company, £510 and the tax break £170 from the government. So you now have £1,530 instead of £850. Do you see why the scheme is a good idea yet?!

Oh and if 5% of your monthly salary is £850, I make it that you earn about £204,000 a year. I think you should be a lot more clued up on your financial management and tax benefits if you are in the top 1% of earners in the country.
 
#47 ·
That's a fair point. 40 years is a long way off... Anything could happen, including the currency being worth much less but don't listen to me :lol:

I think the amount of information we've had on this is pathetic, bearing in mind that they intended to chuck us all into this scam.
 
#51 ·
Look, I think I have a solution for this.

Let your employer take the £150 a month from you each month, speak with your pension provider and put the £270 a month into property and bullion funds. In turn, I will transfer you £150 a month, cash into your current account and you can do whatever you want with that.

When you get to retirement age, transfer me your pension pot.

Everyone is happy then, right?
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top