Agency Worker Pension/Opt Out?

Janie_Zebra

Good evening. I work within Education,  through an Agency. I've been at my current placement just over a year, and I'd thought I'd compare rates etc to my employed colleagues. 

They get 16.2% from employer.  I get 3%, hardly fair? My wages take out approx £10 per week (I have £323 atm, seems pitiful tbh). 

Just thinking that, whilst I am agency, should I opt out and put that money into either a higher rate savings account, or NS&I/premium bonds even? Seeing that the umbrella company and agency themselves are putting pittance in, I'm wondering if I'd have better control? 

Many thanks 

Dazed_and_C0nfused

Why would you go for a savings account and lose money to inflation never mind the tax relief you'll also miss out on 🤔

hyubh

Good evening. I work within Education,  through an Agency. I've been at my current placement just over a year, and I'd thought I'd compare rates etc to my employed colleagues. 

They get 16.2% from employer.  I get 3%, hardly fair?

Does fairness come into it...? The pension is just part of your total renumeration package. If you work the education sector and value employer pension contributions, there's an obvious potential solution...

PS, not to make you even more annoyed, but are your employed colleagues in a public sector pension scheme, so good quality DB? May not be, but the 16.2% sounds rather LGPS-y...

Perksy5

This sounds like my partner.

Hes completely unqualified and would have no chance of employment directly with a school because he has none of the required qualifications needed by a LSO/TA, however through an agency he can get work.

His lower pay and pittance of a pension via the agency is a concession for him being able to do the job he loves, making a difference with some extremely hard done by children and escaped a nightmare of a career in hospitality.

Don't like it? Do something about it. Go get qualified or seek direct employment with a school.

As someone posted above, it's the wider renumeration package and a benefit of a permanent, direct employment with a school.

Bimbly

Do not opt out of the scheme as you will lose both the 3% employer contribution and the tax relief while also saving for your retirement.

Aretnap

Your 3% contributions are presumably matched by your employer and you get tax relief on top of that, meaning that by opting out you would essentially be turning down free money.

Your rationale for doing so send to be that it is not a lot of free money, which is true when you compare it to what permanent staff get. However your choice (in the short term at least) isn't between a little bit of free money and a lot of free money - it's between a little bit of free money and no free money at all. Opting out will ultimately give you more control over less money.

In the medium term you should look at the total benefit package of your current job compared to other jobs when deciding your next career move. It's common for agency with to attract worse pension and other benefits than working on a permanent contract. Sometimes this is offset by a higher headline rate of pay out greater flexibility in the hours you work... but sometimes it isn't.