Non-payment of pensions

Timbo29

I started with a company in 2016. and worked there for 8 years. It was in my contract that pension would not be paid for the first 6 months which was allowed at the time from my understanding. 

Does anyone know what the employer should have been paying in prior to 6th April 2019? Was it 2%? If the pension was not shown on pay slips were they obliged to pay? 

The company always had cash flow issues and it was always advised it would get sorted out! 

From 6th April 2019 is when the rules changed. From my understanding the employer should have been paying 3%min, and there should have been a staff contribution of 5%? So per month into my pension account there should have been 8% of my salary? I always asked why the pension wasn't shown on some of my payslips and got fobbed off etc. 

I know that I was there for quite a long time but was hoping this sort itself out! However the company went bust eventually at the end of 2023. 

I do have money in my pension, however i'm not sure if there is a shortfall and I should be making this up to suit my retirement? 
And also looking into ways to reclaim unpaid pensions. 

Many thanks for reading.  

Marcon

Timbo29 said:

I started with a company in 2016. and worked there for 8 years. It was in my contract that pension would not be paid for the first 6 months which was allowed at the time from my understanding. 

Does anyone know what the employer should have been paying in prior to 6th April 2019? Was it 2%? If the pension was not shown on pay slips were they obliged to pay? 

The company always had cash flow issues and it was always advised it would get sorted out! 

From 6th April 2019 is when the rules changed. From my understanding the employer should have been paying 3%min, and there should have been a staff contribution of 5%? So per month into my pension account there should have been 8% of my salary? I always asked why the pension wasn't shown on some of my payslips and got fobbed off etc. 

I know that I was there for quite a long time but was hoping this sort itself out! However the company went bust eventually at the end of 2023. 

I do have money in my pension, however i'm not sure if there is a shortfall and I should be making this up to suit my retirement? 
And also looking into ways to reclaim unpaid pensions. 

Many thanks for reading.  

See https://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/en/document-library/automatic-enrolment-detailed-guidance/phasing-for-pension,-payroll,-and-software-providers-#dfbccec635f3421ba96bcc7363a05bde and scroll to the section 'How minimum contributions went up in stages'

Contributions didn't have to be based on full salary - they could be based on 'qualifying earnings'. More detailed info: https://www.nestpensions.org.uk/schemeweb/helpcentre/contributions/calculating-contributions/calculate-contributions-using-qualifying-earnings.html

You say you were there for 8 years from 2016, so presumably were in post at the end of 2023 when the company went under. Were you in contact with the insolvency practitioners eg about unpaid wages, redundancy payment etc if these weren't paid at the time your employer went bust? It's not clear from your post that you were actually paying employee pension contributions, but again, this is a matter you should have raised with the insolvency practitioner. 

Whether your pension pot has a 'shortfall' depends on how much you will need when you reach retirement. If it isn't going to be enough for your purposes then yes, you need to be adding to it.