When your workplace & pension provider can't agree

B0bbyEwing

OH started new job recently. Aegon is the provider.

OH knows the employer very well, even before joining, so it isn't going to be a case of them intentionally trying to screw over the employee.

OH started in April & got set up within the Aegon platform in May - £0 balance.

Had another look end of June - £0.

Aegon are saying they've not received any contributions.

Workplace/accountant is saying they've been sent.

OH doesn't like conflict so is just kind of - accountant says so must be right kind of thing. I said you can't wait 20yrs to find out it's still £0 & the accountant hasn't been doing their job & expect all this money to appear. Likewise if the issue is Aegon's end then they need to sort themselves out.

OH has been enrolled as the paperwork as been brought home.

So how does this get untangled then?

ritz55

I think the easiest way will be to say to the accountant that Aegon are saying there is no record of payment and if he/she can provide something to show it has been paid, that way you get confirmation from the accountant in writting it's been paid and allows you to approach Aegon, if he/she can't provide any evidence I would be incline to say its not been paid to Aegon.

Woodstok2000

When were the contributions allegedly sent? Could this just be a timing issue?

horsewithnoname

check that any identifying data is correct, name, ref number, NINo etc - might be a typo somewhere that has caused this?

bjorn_toby_wilde

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82056135#Comment_82056135

That’s very possible. There’s often a lag before they show.

dunstonh

Workplace/accountant is saying they've been sent.

There are a number of stages involved with auto-enrolment schemes.

• First of all, there's the payroll date.
• Then there is providing the schedule to the auto-enrolment scheme and selecting the direct debit date.
• Then there is the collection of the direct debit.
• Then there are the funds arriving at the pension provider from that direct debit, which are then added to the pension.

The rule requires contributions deducted from pay must reach the pension provider by the 22nd of the month after the payroll deduction was made. So for the May payroll, the employer has until the 22nd June to pay the contribution.

The accountant could be just looking at the payroll date and seeing an entry in there for the pension and saying it's correct. But have they checked that the entry has been submitted to the pension provider? Have they checked that the employer has selected the payment date? Were the payment dates in May, or has the employer gone for the longest period possible?

Aegon should know what's coming if the employer has submitted it correctly, even if the direct debit has yet to be taken.

B0bbyEwing

So from what you guys have said, with her starting early April I would imagine that by the end of July there should surely be something since I know she's not going to want to pester them again any time soon. I know she's within her rights to do so but I also know she wont do it so soon because "accountant said".

If by the end of July there's still £0 then she'll have to be asking.

JoeCrystal

Another thing to bear in mind that employers does have maximum of ninety days to pay it in (as your pension provider required to report them to The Pensions Regulator and write to all affected scheme members after 90 days). For a few years with my employer, it always get credited at 90 days after payday into my pension like clockwork.

And then they missed by one day as they didn't take a leap year into account in one month… around 5k employees plus all temporary staffs got an letter from the pension company saying that their employer missed pension contribution.

The Board of the company which doesn't trust pensions at all (and still refused to do salary sacrifice for pension contribution although everything else relevant is) due to large number of complaints from the employees asking why the company didn't pay pension contributions and the management finally told Payroll to pay pension contributions within the deadline instead so we get it a month after rather than three months!

dunstonh

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82056253#Comment_82056253

If she started early April, was there a payroll in April, or was the first one in May?

The April one, if there was one, would be showing on the pension by around the 22nd of May

The May payroll would be shown on the pension by around the 22nd of June.

So one way or the other, there should be contributions showing in the pension by now.

B0bbyEwing

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82056377#Comment_82056377

Yes she got paid by her new employer at the end of April for April.

What about what @JoeCrystal said then? If I've understood correctly they can sit tight for 90 days which puts us to the end of July, if her place were to be as awkward as Joe's with I'll hold on to this money for as long as I possibly can to the final minute.

Though that depends if I've understood it correctly and since I have a habit of not doing so…..

dunstonh

What about what @JoeCrystal said then ? If I've understood correctly they can sit tight for 90 days which puts us to the end of July, if her place were to be as awkward as Joe's with I'll hold on to this money for as long as I possibly can to the final minute.

The 90 days is how long you have to wait before you can complain about it.

It's not something that companies should be doing and would typically only be done by companies with financial problems. If a company is doing that to their employees, then it's effectively dodgy and a major concern, but not one that you can complain about.

The rule is it has to be in there by the 22nd of the following month. Companies regularly breaching that and using the 90-day loophole tells you a lot about the company with regards to their culture or their financials