Do you know of any SIPP providers that can take adhoc payments?

crazyvish

Dear MSEs,

I have had no pension so far and this will be my first ever pension contribution.

I recently joined Advance Umbrella Company and thinking of contributing into pension via Salary Sacrifice. The Umbrella company do not provide any recommendations. They are happy to pay into any pension provider as long as the provider can take adhoc payments from the employer into my account. They wouldn't setup and direct debit or a recurring standing order. The umbrella company would pay a certain percentage of my monthly pay into this SIPP account.

I have looked at Vanguard as they appear to be one of the cheapest provider but they don't appear to take payments from employers. Could you suggest any cost effective SIPP providers who can take adhoc payments from my employer?

Thanking you,
Vish.

Linton

A couple of the larger low/mid-priced SIPP providers:

AJBell: https://www.youinvest.co.uk/faq/can-my-employer-contribute-my-sipp
ii:https://www.ii.co.uk/ii-accounts/sipp/making-contributions (see FAQS)

For ad hoc contributions you may have to fill in a form each time. 

dunstonh

Do you know of any SIPP providers that can take adhoc payments?

Pretty much all of them.

However, it's not so much ad-hoc that you are looking for but auto-enrolment compliant.  That is less common with SIPPs.

I have looked at Vanguard as they appear to be one of the cheapest provider but they don't appear to take payments from employers. Could you suggest any cost effective SIPP providers who can take adhoc payments from my employer?

Vanguard is not a SIPP in the true sense.  Its naming is more down to marketing than reality (when you look at the functionality of it, there is very little SIPP like about it).

If you were considering a restricted option like Vanguard's personal pension (and its not personal pension either but lets not go there!) then any reason why you are not considering auto-enrolment master trust schemes designed for this very scenario?

crazyvish

dunstonh said:

If you were considering a restricted option like Vanguard's personal pension (and its not personal pension either but lets not go there!) then any reason why you are not considering auto-enrolment master trust schemes designed for this very scenario?

Thanks for your response @dunstonh. I wasn't considering Vanguard as such but I came across it as one of the economical options. As you may have noticed, I have very little knowledge in this area. What are these master trust schemes and who provide them?

dunstonh

What are these master trust schemes and who provide them?

Nest, Now, The Peoples Pension to name three that tend to cater for your scenario.  There are others but these three in particular are suited to single individuals under auto-enrolment

biscan25

I do this with HL - fees are reasonable as long as you invest in index trackers. You just need to tell them in advance of the payment being recieved from the employer, else it will be returned.
For salary sacrifice my employer stipulated I had to commit to a fixed percentage till the end of the tax year, or a new "life event", e.g. new contract assignment.
Auto-enrolment is a red herring - My umbrella (Fore two) separately enrolled me into their own provider NEST and I opted out.
Fore-two don't charge me for this service - I'm aware some umbrellas do.

dunstonh

Auto-enrolment is a red herring - My umbrella (Fore two) separately enrolled me into their own provider NEST and I opted out.

It's not a red herring.  The AE compliant schemes don't require you to submit the information to the platform each month in advance.   Schemes that are not AE compliant do.

Also, if you opt out, a number of providers/platforms will refuse to accept you as a customer.

I do this with HL - fees are reasonable as long as you invest in index trackers.

I thought that was abolished with RDR.    If you use index tracker OEICs/UTs then they charge their normal level.   If you use direct assets then it's cheaper. 

biscan25

dunstonh said:

Auto-enrolment is a red herring - My umbrella (Fore two) separately enrolled me into their own provider NEST and I opted out.

It's not a red herring.  The AE compliant schemes don't require you to submit the information to the platform each month in advance.   Schemes that are not AE compliant do.

Also, if you opt out, a number of providers/platforms will refuse to accept you as a customer.

I do this with HL - fees are reasonable as long as you invest in index trackers.

I thought that was abolished with RDR.    If you use index tracker OEICs/UTs then they charge their normal level.   If you use direct assets then it's cheaper. 

My umbrella would only let me pay default into their auto-enrolment scheme, and not be salary sacrifice. I guess this umbrella might be more flexilble.

I was talking about the aggregate fee: 0.45% platform + 0.07% OCR on fund = 0.52%. No contribution fee. Compares well to other retail solutions but will be beaten by any large mastertrust or GPP I imagine.

dunstonh

My umbrella would only let me pay default into their auto-enrolment scheme, and not be salary sacrifice. I guess this umbrella might be more flexilble.

That is a pain and certainly a negative.   I guess it comes down to the willingness to submit the transaction personally each month or have someone do it for you.  Some people are good at admin.  Others are disaster zones.

I was talking about the aggregate fee: 0.45% platform + 0.07% OCR on fund = 0.52%. No contribution fee. Compares well to other retail solutions but will be beaten by any large mastertrust or GPP I imagine.

0.30%-0.50% all-in would be the typical range. (even cheap retail individual schemes come in around 0.3x% nowadays).

crazyvish

Thank you all for your advise / feedback. I opened an account and went with AG Bell. Their customer service seems good so far . I now need to understand on how to invest the money in my SIPP in funds

biscan25

Glad you found a solution.
AJ Bell were also on my shortlist too and seem good value for money.