- If you opt out within the first month of being enrolled – during the opt-out window – your contributions will be refunded.
- If you stop your contributions after one month, your employer can’t refund your contributions.
Any payments you’ve made into your pension must remain invested until your retirement or until you transfer them out. These rules are set by the government and enforced by The Pensions Regulator.
1. Stopping contributions to the Scheme within one month (opting out)
- If you ask to stop contributing to the Scheme within the first calendar month of being enrolled, you’ll opt out of the Scheme and your employer will refund your contributions. After that date, your employer can’t refund your contributions. You’ll get an enrolment notice saying you’re a member of the Scheme and giving the deadline to opt out. You can’t opt out until you get this notice. You can opt out using your online member account. Your online member account will show how many days you have left to opt out during your one-month opt-out window.
2. Stopping your contributions after one month
- After one calendar month has passed you can still stop making contributions – this is called ‘ceasing active membership’. It works in a similar way to opting out but after the one-month opt-out window has expired, you won’t get back any money you’ve put into the Scheme. Your savings will be invested in one of our two funds until you retire. But, you can also transfer these savings to another provider of your choice, if you want to.