Your employer is not paying into your pension: how to check and fix it
Pension contributions are money that has already been earned, and an employer who deducts your share without transferring it is holding something that is not theirs. This goes unnoticed for years, because a payslip showing a deduction looks identical whether or not the transfer actually happened.
Check the fund, not the payslip
The payslip shows what was deducted and what the employer says it contributed. Only the pension fund or insurer shows what actually arrived. Request your annual report or log into the fund directly and compare month by month against your payslips, and look for two different problems: nothing arriving at all, and amounts arriving that are smaller or later than the payslip claims. Gaps that line up with a change of payroll provider are common and are still gaps.
Raise it in writing, with the numbers
Write to the employer setting out the specific months and amounts rather than a general complaint, and ask for confirmation of the transfers. Attach the fund's figures if you have them. This is the point where most cases resolve, because the position is documented and arithmetical rather than a matter of opinion. Keep the letter and any reply, and set a deadline.
If it is not fixed
Unpaid contributions can be pursued through the labour courts, and they are treated as a serious matter rather than an administrative slip. The claim usually needs the fund's record, your payslips and the written demand that went unanswered. If the employer is in financial difficulty, act sooner rather than later, and keep in mind that the loss is not only the money but the accrued cover the contributions were buying.
FAQ
- How do I even see what arrived?
- Ask the pension fund or insurer directly for your account report. It is your account, and it is the only record that shows money in rather than money deducted.
- The amounts are right but arrive late.
- Late transfers are still a problem and can affect your cover and returns. Raise them the same way, in writing and with the specific months named.
- I only noticed after leaving the job.
- You can still pursue it. Get the fund report and your old payslips together first, because the claim is built from the comparison between them.
- Does this apply if I am a contractor?
- It depends on how the relationship actually worked rather than what the contract calls it. Where the arrangement functioned like employment, the obligations may follow it.