Does an employer need to notify you before auto enrolling you back into pension

anto135

I’ve been at my company 3 years now. After I’d started I’d opted out of their pension scheme. 

I’ve looked at my wage slip today to  find that I’ve had a pension payment taken out. When contacting the relevant department within my company they’ve told me as per law, every 3 years they are required to “asses and automatically re-enrol employees who are not in the pension scheme”
should they have notified me of this before hand?

Dazed_and_C0nfused

anto135 said:

I’ve been at my company 3 years now. After I’d started I’d opted out of their pension scheme. 

I’ve looked at my wage slip today to  find that I’ve had a pension payment taken out. When contacting the relevant department within my company they’ve told me as per law, every 3 years they are required to “asses and automatically re-enrol employees who are not in the pension scheme”
should they have notified me of this before hand?

Why have you opted out?

Are you averse to free money and like (potentially) paying more tax than you need to?

Brie

Normally they don't do anything blatant because that just prompts lots of employees contacting payroll and asking to be opted out before the re-enrolment has taken place.  And they can't do that so it just wastes everyone's time.  They HAVE to enroll you and they you have to ask to opt out.  And having been enrolled many people won't notice and then that's normally the best option for them to start accruing a pension pot.

So there's got to be the question - why don't you want to be in the pension?  Likely you're missing out a portion of "salary" in the form of an employers contribution that will, at some distant future date, be very handy to have. 

cr1mson

They have to tell you they have re-enrolled you but they have no obligation to tell you before. Also little point as they still have to re-enrol you anyway.

As others have said why are you not wanting to be enrolled?

Devongardener

With most payroll system’s software, re-enrolment happens automatically without the employer keeping track of the previous enrolment.  Once it has been triggered it cannot be undone until and unless you opt out again.  

stuartp2000

I am not sure on your company rules but mine automatically auto enrols me every 3 years. 

If I write back within 3 months (might be 3 or 6j I then I get the premiums paid back, longer than this to contract them the monies are tied up albeit future payments stop.

I get the above questions as an employee will contribute so it’s a shame to opt out, but we all have our reasons.

Savvy_Sue

I've been running a small payroll. Our system flags that you're due for re-enrolment and I have the option to email you. I think that email tells you how to opt out.

But as I said this is small, and I can quickly see changes like this flagged.

On a larger payroll I can imagine that's unlikely to happen.

MalMonroe

Hi, I'm now 73 and a pensioner and when I was younger, I didn't want to be bothered with pensions. Although I did move around the world a bit and just really enjoyed myself then had a child, so didn't settle down to working full time in the UK until I was in my later 30s.

While I resented all the deductions from my salary, I wish I'd paid into any pension going. Because I was young and foolish - and old age was centuries away.

I really would advise anyone to stay in a pension scheme because, having reached the pension collection age a while ago and still being fit and active, I feel it'd be nice if I could have a bit/lot more cash. 

Obviously these are just my own experience, thoughts and opinions. 

Undervalued

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

anto135 said:

I’ve been at my company 3 years now. After I’d started I’d opted out of their pension scheme. 

I’ve looked at my wage slip today to  find that I’ve had a pension payment taken out. When contacting the relevant department within my company they’ve told me as per law, every 3 years they are required to “asses and automatically re-enrol employees who are not in the pension scheme”
should they have notified me of this before hand?

Why have you opted out?

Are you averse to free money and like (potentially) paying more tax than you need to?

Whilst in most situations those are valid questions, it is not what the OP asked.

Obviously it makes sense to save for a pension if you possibly can and contributions paid early in working life are likely to be particularly valuable. However, times are tough for some people and if you genuinely can't make ends meet and are struggling to pay the mortgage then the best / only option may be to drop pension contributions until such time as finances improve.

We have no idea of the OP's circumstances.

anto135

Thanks for the responses all.

In answer to the main question that’s popped up. The reason I opted out of the pension was very similar/the exact reason Malmonroe has put in his post, because I resented the money being taken out and wanted everything I could get. 

To add to that though I’ve recently been thinking I should opt back into a pension as I know I’ll need it. The main reason for the frustration about being automatically enrolled back in now was due to the fact that this last pay, we’ve had a company wide pay rise.  Being enrolled back in, the extra money I should have seen after tax has been mostly taken by the pension deduction. Upon further reflection I’m probably going to keep myself enrolled as frustrating as it is.

The main point of this post and something I still feel, is that there should be something in place which requires employees to get prior notice to being reenrolled into a pension. Especially given a lot of people would rely on their full wage and having money taken out of it without warning could leave people short.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

In answer to the main question that’s popped up. The reason I opted out of the pension was very similar/the exact reason Malmonroe has put in his post, because I resented the money being taken out and wanted everything I could get. 

However by opting out you have achieved the exact opposite of that.

Remaining opted in is the way to go.