Auto Enrolment opt out....

A question about : Auto Enrolment opt out....

Hi Everyone.

Had a bit of a row today with pensions guy and HR about this stupid auto enrolment stuff.

I don't want to do this. I have provision and currently cannot afford to do anything else.

Today I found out that I have to opt in to either my current employer pension scheme or go with the new auto enrolment scheme. I cannot choose to do none of them. Even though I have stuff in place.

Then once I have been auto enrolled to either or the schemes I can opt out..... BUT. And this is the big but. I cant opt out until a pensions payment has been taken from my wages.

By doing so would leave me in a bad position financially and overdrawn on my bank account.

My question is. Who is going to pay my bank charges for being overdrawn......

I have been told that I wont get the money back fpor a month or poss 2 months... but will get it back. but that's not the point. I will get a charge for being overdrawn. and all because I cannot opt out before hand.......

Not impressed
Gary

Best answers:

• The information given is correct. Your employer has no option but to comply wih the law and that is to put you in to the pension scheme and pay the first contribution. You then wait for the enrolment letter, which gives details of how to opt-out. Once you opt-out, the payment of the first contribution is reversed.
  What is the contribution you will pay? Can you not juggle your finances for one month to take this in to account? If not, and you go overdrawn, then that's nothing to do with your employer or the pension provider I'm afraid.
  If you really can't avoid going overdrawn, consider suspending your current contribution to the existing plan for a month or two. Once you opt-out of the auto-enrolment scheme, you can then go back and pay the missed contributions to your current plan.
• No point in arguing with your employer - they didn't draw up the legislation and they have no choice but to obey the law. If you want to complain to anyone I would suggest that your MP is the place to start. Are you really running your finances so close to the wind that something like one pension contribution is going to take you into an overdraft? If so then perhaps you need to do some re-balancing here or you might also struggle with some of life's other unexpected expenses.
  It is likely that the scheme being offered is actually more beneficial that the alternative arrangements that you have in place - as they will also be making a contribution to your retirement. Have another look at the scheme and consider carefully before withdrawing from it.
• Your employer has no choice.
  Could you ask them to loan/advance you the money and then deduct it when the contribution comes back?
• I work in payroll and I feel like I will explode soon! I'm the bad guy at work. I'm making them all do it! Yeah right. I'm going to punch someone soon the blooming government are all nuts.
• This is basically another tax in addition to the NI we already pay, one which I personally feel none of us will benefit from, but unfortunately like any other pension pot is a complete gamble. Unfortunately it has to be treated like any other unauthorized tax deduction. you have to make ends meet until it is repaid. Could you ask your bank to extend your overdraft? Or try and make some cut-backs in the mean time? However, MEM62 is right, this scheme will see your employer contributing to your pot rather than you alone, so may be worth considering whether it is more viable than your other provisions.
• Do you know how much will be deducted approximately? I know they have different salary definitions and tiers for the contribution deduction calculation, and if they already have a pension scheme offering it may be that their AE scheme is on the minimum basis of 1%. At my place of work rumours abounded of deductions of Ј50+, despite posters saying the average would be around Ј7......