Workplace pension providers

[stinkyspanner]

Hi all, does anyone have any good/bad experience or advice with a workplace pension provider from an employer perspective? For info I'm a Ltd company director, and my wife is the only employee and I need a provider for both of us (even though she will opt out, but I'm still obliged to have an auto enrolment scheme in place..)

[malks222]

you can make employers contributions into a SIPP if you and comfortable picking some funds to be invested in?

I’ve done some reading on pages, and pick my own funds (currently Vanguard seem highly rated, all world funds and low fees). I keep an eye on them and how they are performing, I could do better, and I could do worse, but I’m happy enough it’s going the right way and i’m ahead of my forecast/ plan

[Gin and Ultrasonic]

Nest (the government's workplace pension scheme) is free to set up / run and meets your legal requirements for auto-enrolment. If you actually want investments into it, it might not be the best option, but as a 'we have a scheme' option it would be fine.

[Condi]

Yeah, Nest is the government one and likely the cheapest, but the funds they offer are not the best. If you "need" to have one, it does the job.

[Cabbage Patch]

NEST charge a 1.8% fee on contributions, a 0.3% annual charge and are painful to deal with when transferring your pension away from them. This was my experience as an employee, but doubt it would be much different from an employer perspective.

[stinkyspanner]

malks222 said:

you can make employers contributions into a SIPP if you and comfortable picking some funds to be invested in?

I ve done some reading on pages, and pick my own funds (currently Vanguard seem highly rated, all world funds and low fees). I keep an eye on them and how they are performing, I could do better, and I could do worse, but I m happy enough it s going the right way and i m ahead of my forecast/ plan

That is also a question I had, if I want my company to pay into a scheme for myself does it have to be scheme that satisfies the pension regulator or can I set up a sipp and have my company pay into it and benefit from the tax advantages of doing so?

[malks222]

stinkyspanner said:

malks222 said:

you can make employers contributions into a SIPP if you and comfortable picking some funds to be invested in?

I ve done some reading on pages, and pick my own funds (currently Vanguard seem highly rated, all world funds and low fees). I keep an eye on them and how they are performing, I could do better, and I could do worse, but I m happy enough it s going the right way and i m ahead of my forecast/ plan

That is also a question I had, if I want my company to pay into a scheme for myself does it have to be scheme that satisfies the pension regulator or can I set up a sipp and have my company pay into it and benefit from the tax advantages of doing so?

I am not an accountant/ financial advisor, but I only contribute to my SIPP from my limited company. And yes that does seem to be a tax efficient way of contributing to my pension.

Obviously you are still at the hands of the government, when they’ll allow you to start taking from your SIPP and whatever the tax free lump sum/ tax on withdrawals are……

[LordGrover]

As an employee of a SME I've been pretty happy with BC&E People's Pension.
The fees are amongst the lowest, especially once you exceed £10,000 (I think). The top/initial rate is 0.5% but rebates kick in at about £10k; I'm paying ~0.23% after rebates (inc. annual fee 0.0026%).
My employer is also happy with the system and process, but I'm not involved on that side.