Employers Pension?

sandlesdoc

My employer has asked me to look at providing my own pension plan which he is willing to contribute to, however if I have the Pension Plan, I will be paying the charges for administering the Plan. Should the employer not set up a Company Pension Plan where he is responsible for paying administration and charges incurred by the fund?

molerat

Firstly do you know your employer's staging date for auto enrolment ? If they are past that then they must by law have set up a pension. If not beyond that date then it is up to negotiation between yourselves - you may be able to do better and have more flexibility with your own set up than with some of the fairly poor schemes out there.

sandlesdoc

Thanks for the quick reply. The staging date I think will be August this year. I note what you say, however it is difficult when I don't have anything to compare with ie. the employer does not have a scheme at present.
My main concern was the annual charges, as they can range from 0% upto 1% of the value of the fund. Finding a good pension seems like a minefield, I have read the guidance on MSE and it is still daunting. Obviously I can pay for Financial Advice but it was a cost I would rather not incur if possible.

dunstonh

individual schemes do not qualify as auto-enrolment schemes. So, the employer would be in breach of auto-enrolment rules if he/she continued on that basis past their staging point.

hould the employer not set up a Company Pension Plan where he is responsible for paying administration and charges incurred by the fund?

You are whether it is an individual scheme or an auto-enrolment scheme.

My main concern was the annual charges, as they can range from 0% upto 1% of the value of the fund.

none are at zero. Nobody is going to do it out of love. The highest can go in into 2.x%. Auto enrolment schemes have a 0.75% cap on the default/internal funds.

Obviously I can pay for Financial Advice but it was a cost I would rather not incur if possible.

it will be a cost because, again, nobody is going to do it out of love.

sandlesdoc

Hi dunstonh

Minimum investment
£50

Choose from
24 funds

Annual fee
0%

Just confused me even more, see above pension advertised on a money advice website.

Andy_L

sandlesdoc wrote: »

Hi dunstonh

Minimum investment
£50

Choose from
24 funds

Annual fee
0%

Just confused me even more, see above pension advertised on a money advice website.

those 24 funds will have their own annual charge. The pension company that provides you access to those funds can charge you a fee as well.
In this case they are not so are making their money else where, eg commission from the fund providers or secondary selling you other products.
A company that charges a fee may be giving you a better service, eg more funds to chose from or better tools to manage you investments or could be refunding you some of the fund providers commission (or might just be ripping you off )

dunstonh

some pensions price the fund charge into the product charge. Some have no product charge but price it all in the fund charge. Typically personal pensions do this. So, you need to look at all charges and not just one bit.

Money advice service does not advertise any pensions. It is information only. You cant rely on pricing from money advice service. its a guide but unreliable for real world retailing.

xylophone

Should the employer not set up a Company Pension Plan

Will this not be a legal requirement?