Auto enrolment opt-out - how long does it last?

becky_rtw

Everything I've read says 3 years, but my employer have just re-enroled me, because they say its to do with their staging date date not my opt-out date. 

By my date its been less than 2 years so I wasn't expecting to have to go through the faff of opting-out again until 2023.

Can it really be the case that its their date? And how can someone who has opted out be expected to know when this date is? What if you'd just joined three months before this? 

MX5huggy

Why are you opting out? You are saving loads so not short of money. But missing out on loads of free money. 

Dazed_and_C0nfused

becky_rtw said:

Everything I've read says 3 years, but my employer have just re-enroled me, because they say its to do with their staging date date not my opt-out date. 

By my date its been less than 2 years so I wasn't expecting to have to go through the faff of opting-out again until 2023.

Can it really be the case that its their date? And how can someone who has opted out be expected to know when this date is? What if you'd just joined three months before this? 

Hopefully there is a very good reason for opting out as you are putting yourself in a position where you could well be,

A). Paying more tax than is necessary
. Missing out on free money from HMRC 
C). Missing out on free money from your employer

becky_rtw

I knew someone would ask that  

Flexibility - I'm retiring before 45, I will need some of the money I'm earning now to live off then. 
Short term - I'm only planning on 3-5 years in this job, wasn't worth joining another scheme to have to pay exit fees to merge it later and/or having a small amount in there paying fees every year.

I have a private pension as well as investments and savings. I'm happy with the additional tax burden as a trade off for those two things. 

Marcon

becky_rtw said:

I knew someone would ask that  

Flexibility - I'm retiring before 45, I will need some of the money I'm earning now to live off then. 
Short term - I'm only planning on 3-5 years in this job, wasn't worth joining another scheme to have to pay exit fees to merge it later and/or having a small amount in there paying fees every year.

I have a private pension as well as investments and savings. I'm happy with the additional tax burden as a trade off for those two things. 

What exit fees? There aren't usually any on modern plans. Maybe checking your facts might make it look more appealing? If you've only got 'a small amount' in there, the fees will be small, too, since they will be based on how much is in the pot. Giving up 'free' money from your employer isn't a great strategic move, especially if you plan to stop work before the age of 45. You'll have many non-earning years to provide for!

hugheskevi

becky_rtw said:

Everything I've read says 3 years, but my employer have just re-enroled me, because they say its to do with their staging date date not my opt-out date. 

By my date its been less than 2 years so I wasn't expecting to have to go through the faff of opting-out again until 2023.

Can it really be the case that its their date? And how can someone who has opted out be expected to know when this date is? What if you'd just joined three months before this?

Employers must do a re-enrolment exercise for eligible staff every 3 years, based on the employer's staging date (when they started being covered by automatic enrolment rules).

When they do re-enrolment, employers must enrol any eligible member who opted-out more than a year previously.

Members would be very unlikely to know the employers staging date unless they specifically asked for it.

Flexibility - I'm retiring before 45, I will need some of the money I'm earning now to live off then. 
Short term - I'm only planning on 3-5 years in this job, wasn't worth joining another scheme to have to pay exit fees to merge it later and/or having a small amount in there paying fees every year.

Wouldn't it be far more profitable to work slightly longer?

If the member contribution rate is 3% and you work for 5 more years, you would only have to work 15% of a year (2 months) extra to make good the loss from pension contributions. In return there would be something like 25% (5% x 5 years) of annual salary of employer contributions?