why wasn't i auto enrolled?

A question about : why wasn't i auto enrolled?

I apologise in advance for my ignorance - this is my first proper job so I don't know much about pensions. After being on as a temp, then on probation and then becoming a full time employee (yes, bit of a scum behaviour company trying to save money) I had to push the HR to get the pension forms - but after mulling over which fund to put my pension pot in i get an email from the HR saying the company is changing the contribution from 6% by employee to 3%/3% split between staff and the company. And as a result of not being auto enrolled I have lost out on approximately 3 months of 6% contribution.

Do I have a case for asking why I wasn't auto entrolled ?

There is an internal consultation going on between company and employee reps - can we actually block the company from making this move ? It's not unionised btw.

Thanks.

Best answers:

• You may not have been auto-enrolled because this might still be an old pension scheme and/or because you were in a probationary period, or your earnings didn't meet the thresholds.
• It is most likely because you were still in the probationary period at your job. Given the administrative faff in setting up a new person and them cancelling them again, it is perfectly acceptable within the terms of the auto-enrollment for a person not to be enrolled prior to completion of probation.
  Additionally, do you know the staging date of the company? It is possible that the company had a pension scheme that did not comply with the terms of the new laws and had to change it, taking advantage of the opportunity to amend the contributions arrangement.
  Basically, you probably don't have much to complain about. As you say, it's your first job and you are still learning how it all works.
  Best of luck at your new company!
• and as a new employee, you need also to realise that they can sack you for any reason within the first two years of employing you, and don't have to say why.
  Calling their behaviour 'scum' doesn't bode well for your future with them.
• Auto-enrolment is being rolled out in stages.
  If you work for a smaller employer it may be that they have not yet reached their auto-enrolment date, and so there is no statutory obligation for them to put you in a pension scheme.
  It does not matter if you are on probation, or a temp (unless you are paid through any agency, as then you are not technically the company's employee, but the agency's)
  Here is a note of the staging dates, by payroll size:
  https://www.gov.uk/government/news/n...starting-dates