ThePeoplesPension & NOW Pensions - stick or twist?

JustAnotherSaver

Ok so individual in a situation where they worked for one employer & was auto enrolled in to NP, left that employer for another who uses TPP.

Question is asked as to whether NP pot should just be left alone as it is or whether it should be brought over & transferred to TPP.

I took a look at the charges & they seem to have difference charging structures and to be honest I'm not 100% what the right answer is - hence me being here asking this question.

To help you guys with the answer:

NOW charges

£21/yr

0.3% annual charge

Pot: £5.3k

TPP charges

£2.50/yr

0.5% charge (annual?) with some extra waffle

Rebate ... would be 0.1% at this stage and for a good while longer yet.

Pot: £2.4k

Av monthly cont: £220

Do question is really whether to leave them as 2 separate pots or whether to transfer over the NP into the TPP pot.

As a slight aside x1...

The Now pot always seemed questionable. I guess it's too late now but it never seemed to increase in line with what was being put in or what should've been put in. I noticed this with my own pot as well (also with Now - same employer).

See the problem is is I see how the owner of the company will swindle people. I see things that would have you saying "but they can't do that" ... but they do.

I've seen others experience and have also experienced myself, wages being deducted basically because you irritated the boss that day/week so they just took money off you. Maybe they saw you talking for a minute or so so they deducted 15-30mins from you. "But they can't do that"....but they do.

Through explaining to others how to calculate their pay properly rather than just roughly, I've learned that many many of us have time randomly deducted which some times you'll get paid back .... "oh terribly sorry, don't know what I did there". Through what I see day-to-day, I suspect this is (mostly) done intentionally because 1) 15mins off each person will often go unnoticed and adds up to a big saving over the company and 2) most people don't thoroughly check their payslip every time so if a few question it we'll give that cash back but for those who don't - quids in.

My point is - you only ever see YOUR contribs going in on your payslip. There's no run down of what your employer paid in & I wonder whether the right amount was/is being paid in.

Aside x2....

After doing the monthly breakdown of all accounts for April, every single investment reported a loss - our pensions, ISAs, lifetime ISAs, workplace pension etc with the exception of 1 which gained .... this persons ThePeoplesPension account.

dunstonh

Avoiding the minutiae, Peoples Pension and Now are so similar as to really make very little difference.

Both are basic options that are ideal for smaller employers where pot sizes are generally small.   So, go with the easiest (which is probably to move it to the current employer one).    If you are a frequent mover, then many people in that situation will have their own individual pension and current employer pension. Each time they move employer, they move the old employer scheme to their individual one.

JustAnotherSaver

dunstonh said:

Avoiding the minutiae, Peoples Pension and Now are so similar as to really make very little difference.

Both are basic options that are ideal for smaller employers where pot sizes are generally small.   So, go with the easiest (which is probably to move it to the current employer one).    If you are a frequent mover, then many people in that situation will have their own individual pension and current employer pension. Each time they move employer, they move the old employer scheme to their individual one.

Yes in this case they do also have their own SIPP. Basically the situation is this -

employer only pays in the minimum 3% and so person also only pays in their minimum 5% in order to get the employers 3%.

What they can afford to contribute beyond this per month is what currently goes in to their SIPP with Fidelity.

penners324

Both Now Pensions and TPP have easily accessible online portals (including apps).

These both give a breakdown of contributions made. Double check the contributions match your payslips.

The payslips you get should include the pension contributions from the employer as well.

If things don't match up report the company to the Pensions Regulator 

JustAnotherSaver

penners324 said:

Both Now Pensions and TPP have easily accessible online portals (including apps).

These both give a breakdown of contributions made. Double check the contributions match your payslips.

The payslips you get should include the pension contributions from the employer as well.

If things don't match up report the company to the Pensions Regulator 

In what sense do you mean "should"?

Like when Boris was telling us we "should" stop inside, though didn't make it law that we had no choice so basically everyone went outside?

In other words, is it some kind of law (employment?) that they 100% HAVE TO put on your payslip what THEY are paying in as well .... or is it just something that would be nice for them to do?

As if it's just something nice then I know that I, my wife's, my brothers & my sisters employers must not be very nice then as none of them do it.

Also, and I don't mean this in a rude way - have you seen the Now Pension portal at all??

It doesn't even tell me MY contributions, never mind my employers.

It just gives me a total, which could be anything.

carshells

I found NOW really dreadful in everyway, from the portal, to responses and eventually in the moving process. I work for a large employer that moved lock stock to Peoples Pension from NOW and I followed suit by moving my pension pot too. That was in 2018, maybe they have have improved........

JustAnotherSaver

carshells said:

I found NOW really dreadful in everyway, from the portal, to responses and eventually in the moving process. I work for a large employer that moved lock stock to Peoples Pension from NOW and I followed suit by moving my pension pot too. That was in 2018, maybe they have have improved........

I had to get in touch with them once (ok i think it was before 2018), but basically by the time they got their response to me through the post it was one of those - oh yeah i contacted you didn't I moments - it had been THAT long.

From everything I've read and from using the portal myself, I'm a bit gutted that I have no choice but to stick with them. There just seems no flexibility at all and their response time is dreadful.

I've seen the NEST portal through my wife and TPP as well and they're both just better. Not only that but you get the option to select whether you want your investment to be a bit more aggressive or conservative kind of thing. With NOW you're basically told to not get involved, which may not be a bad thing, but what if you want to invest a little more adventurously?

GazzaBloom

My kids are in NOW Pension with their workplace, it's very basic and not overly transparent. After a bit of digging around their website we found that it appears they invest members money in a single fund, their own Diversified Growth Fund until near retirement then lifestyle into their Retirement Countdown Fund. There is no ability to select or change funds. Cost are 0.3% pa.

To be fair the DVG Fund looks to have performed pretty well but it's not at all clear where the money is invested:

https://www.nowpensions.com/app/uploads/2022/03/diversified-growth-fund-factsheet-q4-21.pdf

But, it's a start for them and they are getting their employers contributions, they didn't auto-enrol as they are both under 22 but they requested opt-in after a bit of badgering from me!

As my kids move on through life and jobs I'm sure they will have opportunity to join a more comprehensive scheme and can look at transferring in further down the road.

JustAnotherSaver

Yeah you're spot on there GB - nothing seems clear with them.

I stick with it myself as it's 'free' money so do what I need to do (5%) to get it.

The only way around this/away from it would be to change jobs but I'm not about to change a job just because I think their workplace pension provider is a bit well, not so great.

It'd be nice if they gave a bit of a history breakdown of your contributions or even better, the employers contributions.

When I see my wife's NEST I can see what her boss paid in. Same with the TPP portal. Mine just shows me my total pot.

I think i'm going to have to contact them and ask them for a breakdown on what my employer has paid in to see if they've actually paid anything in at all.

NHS Pension.....

This question may be like needle-in-haystack for getting an answer but would you (if it's even possible) transfer your NEST pension in to your NHS workplace pension or leave them as 2 separate pots? The NEST one is approx. £6k.

L0ngman

Weirdly Now Pensions uses two websites, one for it's main portal login and and separate one for access to your yearly statements (and if you forget your password, be warned they even use separate login systems, so you may be forgetting your login for the wrong one), not very user friendly, why two websites! *facepalm*

(I am too new to post links but basically)
Now Pensions Gateway - search "now gateway x"
Now Pensions Statements - search "statements dot nowpensions dot com"