No tax relief on my current pension?

Clcatt91

Thank you everyone! Feeling a bit better now. I have typed out an email to the accountant this morning, essentially confirming everything she said, but also asking about how the smaller contributions have affected the growth of our pensions, and if this could be rectified as well as the missing tax relief, so that employees would be in the position as if the error never occurred.
I've also copied in our site manager to make him aware that my suspicions were correct. He is fully on board in making sure they rectify the problem, and is so far the only other person who seems as horrified by the whole problem. Not only that, but as they are switching everyone to the net pay method this month, the payslips we get highlight changes from previous pay slips, so there will probably be quite a few people confused as to why there pension contributions have suddenly increased.

Devongardener

This should be reported to the Pensions Regulator, they can enforce compliance and presumably require the company to make good any shortfall.
https://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/en/contact-us/scheme-members-who-to-contact/report-concerns-about-your-workplace-pension

Albermarle

but also asking about how the smaller contributions have affected the growth of our pensions

You need to tread a bit carefully here. Depending on the time period involved your pension investments could have gone down.

Clcatt91

Albermarle said:

but also asking about how the smaller contributions have affected the growth of our pensions

You need to tread a bit carefully here. Depending on the time period involved your pension investments could have gone down.

Thank you for the info, for me it has been 4 years, but the mistake has been since this site had started, which is over 5 years now for the people who have been here from the get go. From what I can see looking at my pension statements, my pension has grown quite substantially over the 4 and a half years. 

Another update, the management board and the head of finance met up in the middle of June to discuss the situation. I asked for an update today as I am still getting asked about it by other employees as they haven't explained what has happened to everyone involved.

Apparently as of a few days ago, the company has given authority for our payroll company to act on our behalf in respect of speaking with Now pensions and determining a course of action. Once they have a plan they are going to relay it to all whose affected and the steps they are going to take. 

So again, more waiting. hopefully will have more answers soon. 

DE_612183

Clcatt91 said:

Albermarle said:

but also asking about how the smaller contributions have affected the growth of our pensions

You need to tread a bit carefully here. Depending on the time period involved your pension investments could have gone down.

Thank you for the info, for me it has been 4 years, but the mistake has been since this site had started, which is over 5 years now for the people who have been here from the get go. From what I can see looking at my pension statements, my pension has grown quite substantially over the 4 and a half years. 

Another update, the management board and the head of finance met up in the middle of June to discuss the situation. I asked for an update today as I am still getting asked about it by other employees as they haven't explained what has happened to everyone involved.

Apparently as of a few days ago, the company has given authority for our payroll company to act on our behalf in respect of speaking with Now pensions and determining a course of action. Once they have a plan they are going to relay it to all whose affected and the steps they are going to take. 

So again, more waiting. hopefully will have more answers soon. 

sounds like a promising resolution coming ( fingers crossed ) - I hope all your colleagues pay you commission!

Clcatt91

So another update! When i got the update yesterday, the email mentioned how this whole error about the tax relief had been found 'when performing some annual audit checks'. Not gonna lie, that annoyed me. I was tempted to write back 'how has this mistake not been found in all the previous annual audit checks?', but I held it back.  I had told my co worker about what the email had said (they knew everything about the pension and what I had been doing) and how there was no mention of how I found the error. To my horror, my co worker then posts on our company wide kudos board, congratulating me on finding the error. This is then seen by my managers, who then also give me kudos. HR have now had to send out a company wide email, finally explaining the error (but still saying it was found in an audit) to those who have been affected. 

Honestly don't know if this is a good or a bad thing, but I'm glad that all the employees that have been affected know now. 

Sarahspangles

Clcatt91 said:

So another update! When i got the update yesterday, the email mentioned how this whole error about the tax relief had been found 'when performing some annual audit checks'. Not gonna lie, that annoyed me. I was tempted to write back 'how has this mistake not been found in all the previous annual audit checks?', but I held it back.  I had told my co worker about what the email had said (they knew everything about the pension and what I had been doing) and how there was no mention of how I found the error. To my horror, my co worker then posts on our company wide kudos board, congratulating me on finding the error. This is then seen by my managers, who then also give me kudos. HR have now had to send out a company wide email, finally explaining the error (but still saying it was found in an audit) to those who have been affected. 

Honestly don't know if this is a good or a bad thing, but I'm glad that all the employees that have been affected know now. 

Beware, they could make you an auditor!

Clcatt91

Hi All,

So another update, and a little bit of a question. We still haven't heard much about how they are trying to rectify the missing money.  Apparently it took the payroll company over 2 months to hear back from the pension company, for the pension company say that they will have to go to HMRC directly. 

We now have several employees who are quite flustered, a few who have gone to independent financial advisors for advice. Apparently one of them has been told that the money we are owed will not go directly into our pensions, it should be given to us personally instead? 

I was wondering if anyone had any experience in this? Now it seems a few people will be expecting money to them, rather than back in their pensions, and I am worried they will be disappointed. I assumed HMRC would transfer the missing tax relief directly back into our pension accounts?

xylophone

 We still haven't heard much about how they are trying to rectify the missing money.  Apparently it took the payroll company over 2 months to hear back from the pension company, for the pension company say that they will have to go to HMRC directly. 

It seems to me that all employees should wait for a personal letter from payroll confirming their individual positions.

DE_612183

I can't see any reason why tax relief would be paid back to you individually - the whole point about tax relief is that it's given when you pay in and taken back when you take out -