How long do I have to opt out?

A question about : How long do I have to opt out?

I work part time while studying and am planning on leaving my current employer within the next 6 months. I was auto enrolled into pension on 1st October and have so far made one payment in the region of Ј2

I don't think it's worth me continuing with these tiny amounts for this short time as the hassle involved in moving the pot later and the fees will surely soon eat up this amount of money.

I have not received any information about how to opt out yet, only a generic letter about 6 months ago. We were told a few weeks ago that we would be receiving information in the post. I know you only have a limited time to opt out, but does this lack of a letter mean the clock is not yet ticking? Or do I need to actively chase up my HR department this week?

Thanks

Best answers:

• Is your employer contributing?
• is fees eating the whole of a small pension pot something that used to happen a few decades ago? but couldn't happen with current schemes?
• For Ј50 it's not worth the costs of transferring. You may be completely unable to get anyone to accept a transfer of just Ј50 due to their costs just to process the transfer.
  The management charges for staying invested can't usually reduce the value to zero but charges for transferring or taking an income eventually could end up doing that.
  I suggest that you contact the pension provider urgently and tell them that you want to opt out and have your payment refunded. You have one month from being enrolled to get this done and get the money back. If you have had one payment deducted you have been enrolled, even if nobody has told you that properly. The clock is ticking and time is about to run out. If you have no idea yet what the pension company is, your employer has to tell you what to do to opt out if you ask them. Probably giving them a form they provide would do it.
• I am able to opt out of my scheme on the provider's website but I can't do it yet as it requires some kind of account reference number which it says will be provided once I have been enrolled :/
• Ask your employer or the provider. If the money has been deducted from pay you must have been enrolled even though you haven't been told the number yet.
  It might also be good to say which company the provider is in case we see a pattern of one particular provider failing to provide people with the ability to opt out.
• I spoke to my employer on Friday. I have been assured that I have a month from the date I receive the information letter to opt out. My provider is Scottish Widows. What's taking them so long to provide documents to me remains a mystery.
• An update on this: I am still waiting on documentation and am now working my notice period. Presumably I will not be able to opt out once my final pay has been processed and I have received my P45? While the sums involved are not large, I am not best impressed.
• But at least it will be there doubled with tax relief for the future.
  I'd find out about the whole thing, int he end. But I would not worry about it. If you had the money back tomorrow i'd expect you'd use it for xmas.
  Maybe instead it will pay for xmas future.
• In theory, you joined the scheme on 1 October and you should have received the confirmation letter before 1 November.
  In practice, your employer will not have sent details of your joining to Scottish Widows until you'd been paid. What was the day of payday, when that first contribution was paid?
  You have one month from the date of the confirmation letter to opt-out and then your contributions will be paid back to you, via your payslip, by your employer. You can't opt-out until you get this letter, but ALL your contributions will be repaid to you, when you do.
  If you can confirm the date you were paid, we can give you a better idea of how long this is going to take.
• I'm paid 2-weekly in arrears and first made a contribution from my 18th October paycheque. This was the first pay involving the period since the 1st October when I was enrolled. I have now had 4 pays with the deduction applied, most recently on 29th November.
  As I said, I am working my notice period now and expect to receive my final pay on 24th December. Presumably once my P45 is produced reflecting these contributions, it will be more hassle than it's worth to have the deductions refunded.
  We have a central payroll and I have emailed them again to ask if they can chase up the enrolment letters.
  I guess I shouldn't really waste my time dealing thinking about it anymore, the amount deducted is going to be the equivalent of about 4.5 hours work. I can't imagine that this will be easily merged into another pension and I'm not convinced that considering fees and inflation there will be anything left to speak of so it seems to me that these contributions are basically down the drain. Hardly a lot of money, but I'm not a huge fan of working effectively for free.