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AIBU?

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Original poster

To ask about your work place pension?

120 replies

Mmmmarmalade · 26/04/2024 14:34

How much you contribute as a % of your salary and how much your employer does?

The minimum an employer has to is 3% which feels awfully low.

my old old employer had a very good scheme, performed v well to, they paid 10% and then a further match up to 6%.
current is ok competitively but not as good, 8+5%

what’s yours like? Wish I still had my old pension plan, can’t lie

OP posts:
Charlie2121 · 26/04/2024 16:45

Employer pays 7% and I pay 23% as that is the maximum possible before any additional payments lose tax relief.

KreedKafer · 26/04/2024 16:42

I pay 7%, employer pays 24%. I think I have to pay at least 5% but I voluntarily upped it to 7%? I can't actually remember.

I also can't remember whether the amount my employer pays is the standard for the scheme, or whether it's more because I upped my own contributions.

Janome9300 · 26/04/2024 16:41

anothermug · 26/04/2024 16:37

@Janome9300
The legal minimum employer contribution is 3% of your salary between £6240 and £50270.

Yes, sorry, that is what they pay. That works out as less than 1% of my actual salary.

anothermug · 26/04/2024 16:37

@Janome9300
The legal minimum employer contribution is 3% of your salary between £6240 and £50270.

EweCee · 26/04/2024 16:31

Employer 5% matched and I just upped my contribution n from 11% to 15% this month.

SweetFemaleAttitude · 26/04/2024 16:26

I get a final salary pension. I pay 6%, employer pays just over 21%

PhilosophicalCheeseSandwich · 26/04/2024 16:24

They contribute 12%, plus another 3% if I pay 3%. So 15% from them plus my 3% contribution.

IHearTheTickingOfTheClock · 26/04/2024 16:22

Public Sector. I pay 5%, employer pays 27%.

Motnight · 26/04/2024 16:22

NHS. I pay in 12.5%, employer 23%.

greenwichvillage · 26/04/2024 16:21

I work for a Government rams length non profit and so therefore I get the civil service pension, I contribute 5% and my employer contributes 23%.

Trisolaris · 26/04/2024 16:19

Insurance company

Trisolaris · 26/04/2024 16:19

Employer pays 7.5% and I have just upped my contribution to 20% via salary sacrifice.

rainbowunicorn · 26/04/2024 16:17

PamPamPamPam · 26/04/2024 15:51

Is that legal?

Show quote history

Yes unfortunately it is legal. It is absolutely crap that employers can get away with not contributing to your pension on a huge chunk of your salary.

Janome9300 · 26/04/2024 16:16

Mine also does absolute minimum which is sadly not 3% as others have said. I am happy with my overall package but have to put masses in myself to take account of the 1% or so that my employers put in.

It does make it tricky to compare salaries if I was to look to move as the pension would be really material to me and it can be tricky to find out the policy from head hunters.

Pleasealexa · 26/04/2024 16:15

Those on minium contributions, are you generally we lll paid? If so ask about salary sacrifice, can be very tax efficient for larger payments.

Mairzydotes · 26/04/2024 16:13

After my 2nd dc I reduced my hours when I returned to work. I was below the threshold for paying into my work place pension. So I paid 0 and my employer contribution were 0.
That's one of the reasons I didn't return to work after dc3.

OneMoreTime23 · 26/04/2024 16:04

Changed jobs in January to one with a defined benefits scheme. Employer pays in 26% as standard and I pay nothing. I’ve opted to increase it though and I pay 3.5% and they pay 29%.

WishIMite · 26/04/2024 16:03

It's very reasonable to compare a normal pension scheme vs the NHS/local authority scheme: it's the equivalent benefit of around 40% of your salary into a pension scheme (e.g. you are acruing 1/54 of your annual salary per year). It's unbeatable.

Beezknees · 26/04/2024 15:59

I pay 5% and my employer 6%. Private sector.

burnoutbabe · 26/04/2024 15:57

laclochette · 26/04/2024 14:58

Mine is tremendously crap. They pay the absolute minimum which is 3% but only on the minimum qualifying salary which is £6,240-£50,270. I make £110,000 so they actually only contribute what works out at about 1.3% of my total salary. As a result I pay 15% myself. That said, I'd always pay at least £10k in a year to keep myself under the £100k loss of personal allowance, but it's still a lot more than I'd like to have to contribute.

yes mine does the same - 3%, capped at £50k (though i set it up so i don't knock of the first £6,240)

staff are generally paying 5% (i do 50%) but we also encourage anyone who overpays by rebating all the employers NI too so another 13.8% on overpayments.

and done via Salary sacrifice so it saves employee NI too.

Wotcher · 26/04/2024 15:56

anothermug · 26/04/2024 15:44

@easylikeasundaymorn do you mind if I ask what it is that seems so confusing? It would be so helpful for those of us who work in pensions to better understand - as you know there are lots of guides to pensions around but they dont always seem to work as intended.

Show quote history

@easylikeasundaymorn It’s not at all confusing, the alpha scheme is very easy to understand.

2.32% of your annual salary goes into your pot each year. The total of the pot is the annual amount you’ll receive at retirement.

Youcancallmeirrelevant · 26/04/2024 15:52

Civil service, i pay in 4%, can't remember what employer puts in but it doesn't really matter as its an average salary scheme so is based on my salary each year

PamPamPamPam · 26/04/2024 15:51

laclochette · 26/04/2024 14:58

Mine is tremendously crap. They pay the absolute minimum which is 3% but only on the minimum qualifying salary which is £6,240-£50,270. I make £110,000 so they actually only contribute what works out at about 1.3% of my total salary. As a result I pay 15% myself. That said, I'd always pay at least £10k in a year to keep myself under the £100k loss of personal allowance, but it's still a lot more than I'd like to have to contribute.

Is that legal?

Settlement22 · 26/04/2024 15:50

Employer 19%, me 6%. Private sector

Jaxhog · 26/04/2024 15:47

AllyCart · 26/04/2024 15:06

The cost of public sector pensions is huge. It can't be underestimated when comparing salaries between sectors.

According to FT research: https://www.ft.com/content/9d9b03d0-55ff-4e2a-8ec7-2caab0a89381

The average cost of all UK public sector pensions for 2021 is 63 per cent of the salaries. Some of this is paid by employee contributions, averaging 8 per cent, leaving the balance — 55 per cent of salary — to be paid by taxpayers.

So on average, a public sector salary of £34k would need to be £50k in the private sector if the private sector job came with the average employer contribution (4.5% from my Googling) just to get to the same salary + pension contribution total.

Show quote history

A sobering thought if you work in the private sector.