Pension contributions following TUPE

bozzy18

Hello, I would like to ask for advice please.  I have just been TUPE to a new employer and I understand the new employer does not have to match pension contributions from previous employer but the new contributions is a massive drop on my previous pension scheme - it used to be:- 

I pay £184.69 a month and previous employer paid £316.61

but now its I pay £60.70 a month and new employer pays £101.16!

This represents a cut of £339.44 a month going into my pension scheme.

Is this right?  I feel this is unfair.

Thanks - would be interested to hear your thoughts.

Have a nice day,

p00hsticks

Is there any reason why you cannot increase your contribution to what it was before, or are you simply reluctant because the employer won't match it ?

JoeCrystal

It may be unfair, but it's lawful. Could you outline the actual percentage of contributions and salary as well?

Pension contributions have changed constantly. My employer changed from basing contribution per cent on whole pay to qualifying earnings (£520 to £4189 per month) to save the cost of contributing to their employees' pension scheme. Companies closing their DB pension schemes are somewhat ordinary a decade ago or two and replace them with inferior pension contributions into DC pension schemes. Hardly any left remaining in the private sector of course.

The minimum auto-enrollment requirement is 5% from you (or 4% after taxes) and 3% from the employer on the qualifying earnings (£520 to £4189 per month). Any higher than 3% from the employer is pretty generous for the employer.

westv

I thought the whole point of TUPE was to carry over the terms and conditions.
When it happened to me I kept all mine including pension contributions. That was 6 years ago.

Andy_L

As JoeCrystal said its unfair but is lawful.

They are being slightly more generous than they need to be, the minimum they have to give is "employer contributions match employee contributions up to 6% of basic pay" so they could just pay in £60.70

Its only a cut of about £100 going into your pension since, as p00hsticks said, you could continue to pay the £184.69 you were paying before into a pension.

Still quite a bit. Is it time to move on, what are other employers offering as a total package in your area?

Hoenir

bozzy18 said:

I pay £184.69 a month and previous employer paid £316.61

but now its I pay £60.70 a month and new employer pays £101.16!

If you increase your personal contributions will your employer increase their's? 

p00hsticks

westv said:

I thought the whole point of TUPE was to carry over the terms and conditions.
When it happened to me I kept all mine including pension contributions. That was 6 years ago.

Workplace pensions are excluded from TUPE, although I believe there is possibly some obligation for the new employer to offer something similar where feasible. 

When I was TUPEd my (defined benefit) pension from the old employer became 'deferred' and I was enrolled in the new employers scheme instead, so will now get a pension from both schemes. 

JoeCrystal

westv said:

I thought the whole point of TUPE was to carry over the terms and conditions.
When it happened to me I kept all mine including pension contributions. That was 6 years ago.

Then you are lucky. Workplace pension schemes are exempt from TUPE if I remember correctly. Understandable considering the new employer would have their own workplace pension schemes as well.

Marcon

bozzy18 said:

Hello, I would like to ask for advice please.  I have just been TUPE to a new employer and I understand the new employer does not have to match pension contributions from previous employer but the new contributions is a massive drop on my previous pension scheme - it used to be:- 

I pay £184.69 a month and previous employer paid £316.61

but now its I pay £60.70 a month and new employer pays £101.16!

This represents a cut of £339.44 a month going into my pension scheme.

Is this right?  I feel this is unfair.

Thanks - would be interested to hear your thoughts.

Have a nice day,

If this is some sort of personal pension arrangement (eg a group personal pension) and you had a contractual right to the pre-TUPE levels of contribution shown, then it certainly isn't lawful.

If it's an occupational scheme the position is different, so perhaps you could clarify what your 'old' scheme was and what the 'new' scheme is (they could be the same, of course!).

westv

p00hsticks said:

westv said:

I thought the whole point of TUPE was to carry over the terms and conditions.
When it happened to me I kept all mine including pension contributions. That was 6 years ago.

Workplace pensions are excluded from TUPE, although I believe there is possibly some obligation for the new employer to offer something similar where feasible. 

When I was TUPEd my (defined benefit) pension from the old employer became 'deferred' and I was enrolled in the new employers scheme instead, so will now get a pension from both schemes. 

My old employer had a DC arrangement with Aegon and so did the new employer.

bozzy18

p00hsticks said:

Is there any reason why you cannot increase your contribution to what it was before, or are you simply reluctant because the employer won't match it ?

no thats not the case - i am currently looking to increase my contributions to higher amount but was just wondering why the lower amounts based on my recent payslip.