Bonus and pension rules

MPPG

I earned a bonus of £770.00 for the last quarter of 2020.
I was expecting this to be paid in full in this month's salary.  My employer have told me that due to the pension rules they can only pay the bonus in 3 payments - January February and March.  Is this correct as they have not provided me with any proof?

Thanks

Dazed_and_C0nfused

New one on me.

Not sure you will find proof.

ratechaser

Utter BS. They may have their reasons for paying it in increments, but it's nothing to do with 'pension rules' - in any case, pension contributions more often than not are based on your fixed salary so your bonus would not have any impact.

El_Torro

Either you misunderstood what was said or your employer is telling porkies.

Marcon

MPPG said:

I earned a bonus of £770.00 for the last quarter of 2020.
I was expecting this to be paid in full in this month's salary.  My employer have told me that due to the pension rules they can only pay the bonus in 3 payments - January February and March.  Is this correct as they have not provided me with any proof?

Thanks

Ask them which pension rules are creating the problem.

mark55man

Some employers offer you the opportunity to have your bonus paid into your pension, sometimes with some element of NI Employer contributions saved paid as well - but you cannot know how much it is before the decision.  Possibly you are getting 3 bonuses all of which are being paid in this way.  But it does sound odd however, there re some rules about pensions and bonuses so it possibly a misunderstanding and not a fabrication

MPPG

Thanks for this
They say any bonus payment over £500 due to pension rules has to be paid over 3 payments the following quarter.
Nothing in contract to say that?

mark55man

Puzzling, but many people prefer to invest by drip feeding, I wouldn't be too worried about losing or winning a lot in your pension - especially given current volatility. 

I would be more worried by the fact it seem like your company is telling porky-pies.  Would I be worried enough to confront them about it - NO.  But would I remember it, and worry things weren't OK on the cashflow front (worse case) or HR competence (best case) - YES

Thrugelmir

Sounds as if your employer has cashflow issues. Customers may not be paying their outstanding debts promptly. As a consequence bonus earnt is being spread. Assume that the same applies to other employees in the same situation.