Looking for advice on a new employment contract/pension contribs

[signothetimes]

I'm due to increase my working hours as of next week, but I've spent the last 3 weeks trying to reason with HR/Contracts/Pensions dept over the detail of my contract. The issue is my non-contrib pension. The company I work for was taken over/merged with another in 2005. My contract changed, as did my pension, and as an old employee with a better pension entitlement than new employees, I've stuck with the pension contributions that I opted for when the contract changed in 2005.

After requesting an increase in hours, I got my new contract and worked out the figures given for my pension contributions are based on 'new employee' figures, not the figures I should get. When I queried this, it turns out that the contribution on my payslip shows as 11% but I'm supposed to be getting 13%, so not only is the new contract wrong, but the contributions on my payslip for my current contract is wrong. I've been told that the entry on my payslip is 'fake' and that I am actually getting 13%. I've not been given anything that confirms this as being true. I've also been told that they won't include this in the figures for my salary package, as the software they use for contract doesn't allow anything other than the 11% contribution, but they know I get 13% and even though my payslip doesn't confirm this, that is what I'm now getting.

I'm getting more and more frustrated with my HR dept, and am continually getting the run around. I have told them I won't sign a contract which does not show the actual salary package I am entitled to, and I cannot understand why my payslip should have 'fake' entries' on my pension contributions when it should be accurate. I am now waiting on someone more senior to come back to me, but I suspect I'm going to get all the same excuses I've had so far.

Is there anything I can do to resolve this? I'm in a union but not sure they would be the correct people to review this. HR don't seem to be willing to budge, but I cannot understand how they expect me to sign an inaccurate contract and continue to have supposed 'fake entries' on my pay slip showing my pension contributions.

Help?

You are right, your payslips must be accurate. You should also be able to get a statement of pension contributions made on your behalf which will show what contributions have actually been made.

I don't understand the contract issue. It may be generated from a standard by a system but once that's been done it's perfectly possible to manually amend it. Or they could manually produce one themselves from the standard, putting in the details. You know, doing some actual work rather than letting a system do it all for them....

I would suggest speaking to your union. You are entitled to accurate payslips and for your contract to show your benefits accurately, rather than someone else's benefits.

are you sure that you will continue to get the higher rate pension contributions if you change your contract for new hours though? it's fairly common practice when harmonising t&cs following a takeover to allow employees to remain on their old contracts but to have to accept the new t&cs if they want to benefit from a positive change.

none of this means you sholdn't have been getting accurate contributions and payslips to date though.

13% is really high by today's standards. I'm surprised they are offering this. Even 11 is quite good.

And, of course your payslip has to reflect the actual numbers. What an odd thing to say.

Thanks for the replies.

The change of contract for the increased hours basically states that the pension option I took in 2005 remains the same. The problem is the figures for the salary package don't match what it should be i.e. what I opted for. At the time, if I'd opted to stay in my old pension, but at the new employee rates, I'd have got 9% for 6 months and then remained on 11% thereafter, forever. It's reassuring to know I'm on the right path with my arguments. My pension is good, and gets better every 5 years, hence I decided to opt for this! It's due to go up to 15% in 2 years, then 17% five years after that etc. etc. so you can see why I'm not keen to just accept 11% being stated in the contract as being OK.

I'll ask for the statement for my pension and see what it says. It's just the fobbing off I'm getting that's bothering me the most. When I challenged the 'fake entry' bit of the explanation I was getting, I was told that was maybe a poor choice of words but that if they didn't do that, the extra £30 a month would be taken off my salary. It's just wrong, but I'm being made to feel I'm being unreasonable in asking for an accurate contract to reflect what I am actually entitled to, with accurate payslips to match!

Thanks again for the replies.