NEST or NOW?

tink2011 · 20 October 2015 at 11:43AM

I am a small employer with 15 employees. We have a staging date of January 2016, so we need to make a decision. I'm very much out of my comfort zone, but having read threads on this forum I can see there are quite a few clued up people here!

Are there any major pro's or con's to either NEST or NOW? I can't even tell you really how I came to having these two on my short list.

Any direction gratefully received. I appreciate this is IFA's territory, but would appreciate feedback.

Thank-you

LHW99 · 20 October 2015 at 4:29PM

NEST doesn't currently allow transfers out (by the employee) before age 55, which may be an issue if someone moved to a new employer with a different scheme.
https://www.nestpensions.org.uk/schemeweb/NestWeb/public/helpcentre/contents/can-a-member-transfer-money-in-or-out-of-their-nest-retirement-pot.html
It appears that NOW will
http://whichretirementguide.com/mse-news-government-pensions-scheme-too-complex.html

tink2011 · 20 October 2015 at 9:01PM

I hadn't spotted that.

Thank-you!

Brightspark87 · 21 October 2015 at 12:46PM

Hi Now pensions have had huge problems recently with regards to system failures etc. Now as an IFA I still like them but bare this in mind. have you got an IFA to help you with this? there are other AE providers out there

Mothman · 21 October 2015 at 1:20PM

My employer went with NEST purely becase it was the easiest option for them from an administrative perspective and would dovetail in with the wages software they run, which some others would'nt. They do not believe in pensions for staff and so how easy a scheme was to administer was the overrding factor in their choice.

From an employee perspective ( Age 54) the cons for me were.

a). 1.8% Levy on Contributions
b) £4700 per tax yr Contributions Limit
c) Inability to transfer out
d) Lack of fund choices

I believe points 'b' & 'c' may be solved in 2017. On the plus side asan employee I find the NEST website the easiest to use of the three pensions I have. I feel it is too early to draw any conclusions on their fund performance.

Since staging in May of this year I have not heard any moans in the office from my employer so I guess it must be working OK from an administrative point of view.

NEST or NOW?

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