Pension, is this legal?

NotRichAtAll

Ok the figures i am going to post are mine, the scenario described is real, the advice is for me.

I worked as a coach driver for a well known "national" company the company i was employed by was a 3rd party operator. This last 18mth the national company have been struggling financially and have been selling of various assets 1 of which was the 3rd party operator i was employed by, who were purchased by another company but still been used as the 3rd party operator, abit confusing i know.

Anyway upto oct 2025 our pension was paid on time into legal and general at the end on oct 25 we got a leaving letter telling us we were no longer in the pension plan.

We were entered into a new pension on the 1st november 2025 by the new owners the plan is with royal london.

my payday is the 24th of each month below are my contributions

Nov 24th 2025 my contribution £122.47 employer's contribution £91.85

dec 24th 2025 "" £113.57 "" "" £85.18

Jan 24th 2026 "" £130.35 "" "" £97.77

Feb 24th 2026 "" £116.38 "" "" £87.28

so now onto the pension app deposits sadly no dates to tell me the date they were paid in

Dec 2025 they received £122.47 from me and £91.85 from my employer

Jan 2026 again £113.57 from me and £85.18 from my employer

and nothing has been paid in since so nov deductions were paid in december

decembers paid in january and now 2 mths missing??

thoughts on above

thanks

JoeCrystal

Nothing unusual here. My own employer (a shop brand!) pay into my pension scheme three months later, mostly just before 90 days limits.

Strictly speaking, employers must pay employee workplace pension contributions to the provider by the 22nd of the following month. So if you are paid on 24th November 25, then you already got your November contribution paid in December and as for 24th December 25, then naturally, you can expect it to be paid in the following month which have happened here.

You may see January this month or even the following month pending on old provider credit such payments, February next month or in the following month. It may be just that your former owners are merely quick in contributing into your old pension schemes and your current owner are just taking full advantage of the gap between deducting the contributions and pay it towards the pension provider.

bjorn_toby_wilde

Mine were always credited to the pension about a month after they were deducted too. Just an admin lag I imagine.

MyRealNameToo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6656978/pension-is-this-legal

Pension contributions need to be paid by the 22nd of the following month from the deduction. Not all payments go by Faster Pay and not all pension schemes process money instantly - the requirement is only on when the employer pays it over.

Given the 22nd was just last weekend you may simply need to be more patient with it showing up.

chuffinnora

Ours go in on the 21st following payday. I queried it some time ago and was told the company like it to sit in their bank account for interest until they have to submit payments. The admin is actually only about 3 days with our dept as they accidently paid it on the 4th once which they kind of thought was a bonus for us🙄

I get why they do it for cash flow reasons, so you just have to accept it.

DavidT67

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81900237#Comment_81900237

No, it's more that if staff have any payroll errors or issues, it's far easier to correct them, whilst you still have all the monies within the company accounts still.
Once you've paid across monies to HMRC, pension providers, etc. it's much more work to unwind and correct.

NotRichAtAll

Ok thank you everyone for the replies, i did think myself they are sitting on it getting as much interest as they can especially if they are doing this across the board to every employee