FAQs for Members

A letter of authority (LOA) is a legal document that authorises a third party to correspond with service providers on your behalf.

To provide any information about an individual’s membership of the NOW: Pensions Trust (‘the Scheme’), we need to have a valid letter of authority signed and dated by the member, which explains what the third party is authorised to do and which contains the following information about them:

• their full name
• their full address including their postcode
• date of birth
• National Insurance number.

You can scan and email the letter to: membersupport@nowpensions.com or post it to: NOW: Pensions, Maclaren House, Talbot Road, Stretford, Manchester, M32 0FP

If you’ve worked for more than one employer which has a NOW: Pensions Trust workplace pension scheme, you’ll have a separate log-in for each employer, each with a separate contract ID and a different email address (if you registered one to activate your account).

This means you can only see the contracts for the particular employer you’ve logged in for. You’ll also receive separate annual benefit statements for each one.

Your NOW: Pensions member account enables you do the following things to manage your pension savings.

Update your contact details
These include your email address and phone number. Please consider giving us a personal email address as part of your contact details. This will help us keep you up to date about your pension savings even if you change jobs. If you do give us a work email address, remember to update it if you change jobs. Please also make sure your employer has your new address if you move home.

Track your pension savings.
Your fund value summary shows the value of your pension savings. This is the total amount you and your employer have paid in, plus any change in the value of your investments, and less any charges. It also shows any additional voluntary contributions you’ve paid and any other pensions you’ve transferred in. Your fund value is updated each week.

As well as being able to check your pension savings online, you’ll get an annual benefit statement each year. This will show your fund value and an estimate of your possible future pension, along with all the costs and charges you’ve paid on your pension savings.

Pay additional voluntary contributions
If you want to pay more into your pension savings, you can either make a regular contribution from your salary or pay a one-off lump sum.

To make a regular contribution, click on the button ‘Make an additional contribution every time I get paid’ and select a percentage from 1% to 100%. The system will notify your employer and they will deduct this from your salary each pay date.

Speak to your employer or payroll department if you want to pay a one-off lump sum.

Opt out within the opt-out period and get a refund of contributions
When you’re first enrolled into the Scheme you have one month from the date we write to you to opt out. This is called your opt-out period. You also have a month to opt out every time you’re re-enrolled (the law requires your employer to do this every three years from when the Scheme was first set up.).

During your opt-out period your member account will show how many days you have left to opt out.

When you’re first enrolled into the Scheme, if you opt out within the opt-out period, your employer will refund your contributions through the payroll and you’ll be treated as if you’d never been a member of the Scheme.

If you miss the opt-out deadline, by law your contributions can’t be refunded. They’ll stay invested in the Scheme until you retire or transfer them out to another pension provider.
The opt-out period is set by the government and enforced by The Pensions Regulator.

Stop contributions to your workplace pension outside the opt out period.
We expect most people will welcome the chance to save for retirement in the Scheme, but you can choose to stop making contributions (cease active membership) at any time. However, this will mean that your employer will stop contributing to your pension as well. Just click on the ‘Opt out’ button > Leave.

You’ll need to read all the information about stopping contributions and tick the box to confirm that you understand what it means > Confirm opt out > Y.

Once your employer has been notified that you’re no longer paying into the Scheme, they will stop paying all contributions to your pension savings.

The contributions you and your employer paid up to the date you stop contributing will stay invested in the Scheme until you retire or transfer them out to another pension provider. However, you can restart your contributions at any time as long as you still work for your employer.

Check email communications we’ve sent you about your pension
You can easily keep track of our communications with you by looking in the Auto Enrolment History section. This will have emails such as your enrolment notice and your account creation details.

If you’ve lost or forgotten your password, simply go to www.nowgatewayx.com, enter your email address (if you’ve registered with one), or NOW: Pensions contract ID, and click the ‘Request a password reset’ button.

To log out of your member account:

1. From the home page, click the arrow in the top right-hand corner to log out.
2. If you’re not on your home page – because you’re looking at a contract, for example – click the ‘X’ in the top right-hand corner to go back to your home page.

If your employer has the NOW: Pensions Trust (‘the Scheme’) as its workplace pension, and you’re permitted to join the scheme, you’ll receive a new member account email explaining how to set up your account with us.

This will have your NOW: Pensions contract ID, which is usually four letters plus 12 digits (for example, NPLT 0000-0000-0000).

Find your account

1. Go to nowgateway.com/activate
2. Enter your unique NOW: Pensions contract ID and your date of birth (DD/MM/YYYY]
3. Click Find my account.

Activate your account

1. Create a password to use on your account and confirm it
2. Click Activate my account
3. You’ll see your NOW: Pensions account home page which shows your NOW: Pensions contract ID for that employer.

Email addresses
It’s helpful if you register an email address to activate and manage your account, as this allows us to contact you quickly with updates about your account. However, you should be aware that if you register an email address with your current employer’s contract and then, in future, set up a new NOW: Pensions contract with a different employer, you won’t be able to use the same email address. You’ll either need to register a different email address or set up your new account without a registered email address.