Auto enrolment chaos, what are my rights?

VirgilBrigman

I was paid at the end of May in the usual manner, I never check my payslip as it comes by email, you have to log in and so if my payment amount is about right then I tend not to bother. 

I noticed that the amount paid into my bank was lower than usual and so checked the payslip and noticed that I had a deduction for a pension. I'd opted out of the pension when I joined the company a couple of years back and had received no notification since from any party about being opted back in. 

I spoke to our payroll which is an external service provider who pointed me to the pension provider and spoke to them today. Apparently they had emailed me back in March, however I never saw this email, they admitted that it could have gone in to spam. Actually, when I last opted out I kept on receiving emails from them and therefore asked to be removed from their list from a data protection act point of view. This was obviously was never acted upon as on checking I can confirm that they had indeed sent me an email back In March 2025. Of course, I had ignored this as I had opted out of the service and communication. 

They told me that as I had passed the 30 day mark and the deadline was 1st May there is nothing that they can do to refund these payment and another amount will be deducted during June as well. I have instructed my employer and payroll service not to pay another penny of my money to this company though I wonder if they are able to withold this. 

I wondered, how come I've only just noticed this? I spoke to the payroll provider and apparently this amount was deducted in April as well and on checking my payslip they are indeed correct. However the amount paid into my account for that month was as usual (therefore incorrect on my employers part) and so it has taken another month for me to discover any of this. 

I obviously don't want another pension with a few quid in it, so what are my options here? From my side I feel like I have done nothing wrong. 

Hoenir

Opt out again. In future check your email's better. Unlikely the original ended up in spam. Filters are now so much better than in the past. 

greatkingrat

They are legally required to re-enrol you into the pension scheme every three years, even if you have previously opted out. If you wanted to opt out again, you have to do so within 30 days, so they are correct. 

However why do you want to opt out? Even if it is a relatively small amount, it is still free money from your employer that you will otherwise lose out on. You can always transfer it into your main pension at some point in the future.

DE_612183

I think once the money gets into the pension it's difficult to get it refunded

QrizB

Congratulations, you're better off than you were before you opted out.

VirgilBrigman said:

I obviously don't want another pension with a few quid in it, so what are my options here? From my side I feel like I have done nothing wrong. 

It's not obvious at all, at least not to me.

Why exactly do you not want your employer's pension contributions (typically 3% of your salary)?

Penguin_

DE_612183 said:

I think once the money gets into the pension it's difficult to get it refunded

There are some providers, such as NEST, where you can get refunded within the first 6 months of being enrolled.

Cobbler_tone

Hoenir said:

Unlikely the original ended up in spam. Filters are now so much better than in the past. 

Are you kidding? Well, if it is anything like my company.
We have never been hit yet but…we get at least two cyber training videos a week. We get several dummy phishing emails to try and catch us out and I must report at least one in ten emails for screening before I look at it.

Anything looking slightly suspicious or external goes into quarantine and then reported to us on one email to decide if we want to look at it. I’d imagine most people just delete this email, so would miss some communication.
Unless it is from my organisation or has a link on it, I’m deleting it or reporting it.
Know one wants to be ‘that’ person and we have had people facing disciplinary for failing the test emails twice.
Its the world we live in.

DE_612183

Cobbler_tone said:

Hoenir said:

Unlikely the original ended up in spam. Filters are now so much better than in the past. 

Are you kidding? Well, if it is anything like my company.
We have never been hit yet but…we get at least two cyber training videos a week. We get several dummy phishing emails to try and catch us out and I must report at least one in ten emails for screening before I look at it.

Anything looking slightly suspicious or external goes into quarantine and then reported to us on one email to decide if we want to look at it. I’d imagine most people just delete this email, so would miss some communication.
Unless it is from my organisation or has a link on it, I’m deleting it or reporting it.
Know one wants to be ‘that’ person and we have had people facing disciplinary for failing the test emails twice.
Its the world we live in.

This is a personal account that should be used - so no test emails are in play.

I use gmail and check my spam folder at least one a month - sometimes more often

dunstonh

I spoke to our payroll which is an external service provider who pointed me to the pension provider and spoke to them today. Apparently they had emailed me back in March, however I never saw this email, they admitted that it could have gone in to spam

They don't need to admit it could have gone into your spam folder.   It is you who needs to admit that.  Its your spam filter.  Not theirs.    More likely they just said it could have gone into the spam filter, which is not an admission.

Actually, when I last opted out I kept on receiving emails from them and therefore asked to be removed from their list from a data protection act point of view. 

marketing communications are different to service communications.

I obviously don't want another pension with a few quid in it, so what are my options here? From my side I feel like I have done nothing wrong. 

There is nothing obvious about not wanting free money and making yourself worse off.    

This is a moneysaving site and your choices are the opposite of that.

I use gmail and check my spam folder at least one a month - sometimes more often

We use business Gmail, and whilst the filter is very good, you do get occasional false positives that go into the spam filter, and I check weekly.

Apple email addresses are probably the worst.   They have internal filtering but just delete the email and don't put it in a spam folder.   So, those using an apple email address may never have the choice to check.

Cobbler_tone

DE_612183 said:

Cobbler_tone said:

Hoenir said:

Unlikely the original ended up in spam. Filters are now so much better than in the past. 

Are you kidding? Well, if it is anything like my company.
We have never been hit yet but…we get at least two cyber training videos a week. We get several dummy phishing emails to try and catch us out and I must report at least one in ten emails for screening before I look at it.

Anything looking slightly suspicious or external goes into quarantine and then reported to us on one email to decide if we want to look at it. I’d imagine most people just delete this email, so would miss some communication.
Unless it is from my organisation or has a link on it, I’m deleting it or reporting it.
Know one wants to be ‘that’ person and we have had people facing disciplinary for failing the test emails twice.
Its the world we live in.

This is a personal account that should be used - so no test emails are in play.

I use gmail and check my spam folder at least one a month - sometimes more often

Fair enough, my bad. 
I can see how you can miss anything on a personal account though. I get a lot of spam in the inbox, plus emails I actually want going into spam that I move out. It seems a bit random.

dreaming

The bit I don't understand is not checking your payslip. When I worked I checked mine every month (usually visible the day before the cash arrived in bank account) and picked up an anomaly due to some changes (I thought) in core hours worked and overtime. I got onto payroll straight away and they corrected it (and paid up in the end of month run) and because I spoke about it to a colleague they checked their payslip (which they admitted they didn't usually) and found they had also got some errors. Suddenly the whole team were checking their payslips and nearly everyone had problems - apparently due to a new payroll system! Some had been overpaid and some under. It's a bit like people who never check their bank or credit card statements. Madness in my opinion.