For some time now, the Government has been worried that many of us in Great Britain and Northern Ireland aren’t properly prepared for retirement. The Government has therefore introduced legislation requiring everyone in Great Britain and Northern Ireland who meets the eligibility criteria will automatically be enrolled into a qualifying pension scheme through work. This is called ‘Automatic Enrolment’.
Here are the basics:
- You’ll contribute a fixed percentage of your Basic Pay into your work pension every month and your employer will contribute too. This means you get the advantage of their contributions on top of your own, which you wouldn’t have in a private personal pension. You will also receive tax relief
- Your employer will set up the pension for you and you will be kept informed about when you have choices to make
- Once you have been enrolled, you’ll have the option to opt-out if you want to. If you opt-out within one month of your automatic enrolment date, the contributions you have paid will be refunded to you
- You will still be entitled to the Basic State Pension when you retire
- When you come to retire, it could be comforting to know that you will hopefully have enough money to do all the things you want in retirement
