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FAQs for Members

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Manage my pension FAQs

It normally takes one or two weeks depending on when we receive pension contributions from you and your employer.

Investment takes place on a Wednesday each week, with all contributions received between the Tuesday of the week before and the Monday of that week being invested.

There’s a one-day reconciliation period after the contribution has been received that causes the contributions received on the Tuesday in the week before to miss investment on the Wednesday of the week in which the contribution was received.

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

To manage your pension savings, we need personal details from you.

We’re committed to protecting and respecting your privacy and we take good care of the personal details you give us. This is a summary of how we use, store and protect your personal details.

You can find out more by reading our privacy policy (which we’ll update from time to time) and the data protection notice on the Gateway member portal.

You can also contact us at membersupport@nowpensions.com or call 0330 100 3334 (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm) and ask for a copy of the data protection factsheet. We send you a copy of this when you first become a member of the Scheme.

Playing your part

It’s very important that the personal details we have about you are accurate and up to date. Please remember to check and update your personal details regularly, especially if you move home or job. We also tend to contact members by email, so it’s important that you keep your email address up to date. If you want to make changes to your personal details, you can tell your employer or update your email address using your member account at nowgateway.com.

How we collect and store your personal details

Your employer will pass your personal details to us when you’re enrolled in the Scheme.

We may collect more personal details from you when you contact our member support team, or activate and use your member account on the Gateway member website.

When you visit our website small files known as cookies are placed on your device. This helps us to give you a good experience on the website by recognising your device and storing information about your preferences and past actions. It also helps us improve the website. For more information please read our cookie policy.

Our safeguards for storing and processing personal details meet the requirements of European Union (EU) data security law, set out in the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). If we have to give your information to other organisations, we insist they meet the same requirements.

We’ll keep your personal details for as long as we need to manage your pension savings and meet our legal obligations.

How we use your personal details

We only use your personal details to manage your pension savings in the Scheme.

This does mean we sometimes have to share them with other organisations such as our administrators, IT providers and ‘data cleaning’ services (that specialise in checking the quality and accuracy of personal details). We’ll only do this if it’s needed to manage the Scheme or something to do with your benefits, or if there’s a legal requirement we must comply with.

We won’t sell your personal details to anyone.

If you’ve given us permission (see Your rights below), we may sometimes send you marketing information about our services and allow other selected organisations to do this. You can opt out of receiving marketing information by contacting us at mktoptout@nowpensions.com.

Your rights
You have the right to see and change any of the personal details we hold about you.

You can ask us to delete the personal details we hold about you if there’s no good reason for us to keep them. We must do this unless, for example, there’s a legal need for us to keep them. This is known as the ‘right to be forgotten’.

Sometimes we may ask your permission to use your personal details for particular reasons—for example, to send you marketing information. You don’t have to give permission and if you do, you can withdraw your permission at any time. This may mean we can’t provide some services for you, so we’ll make this clear if you ask to withdraw your permission.

To use your rights in any of the ways set out here, please contact our data protection officer at DPO@nowpensions.com.

Pension scams are on the increase. Every day criminals use sophisticated ways to con pension savers out of their money. There has been an increase in scams since the onset of COVID-19, as people who are worried about the state of investment markets have been transferring their pension savings to other investments.

Scammers will often start by offering a ‘pension review’ or a ‘one-off investment opportunity’. Eventually, this ‘offer’ will depend on you transferring your pension savings out, supposedly to another pension scheme but in reality, straight into the scammers’ pockets. You could lose all your pension savings and possibly also find yourself with a huge tax bill.

Things to watch out for

  • Any contact about your pension that comes out of the blue, even if the caller claims to be from your bank or a government department. 
  • Claims that you can get at your pension savings before age 55 without paying large amounts of tax. You can’t.  
  • Website promotions, telephone calls, text messages or adverts encouraging you to transfer your pension savings to get cash or a loan.
  • Offers of ‘one-off’, ‘unique’ or ‘time-limited’ investment opportunities—especially if they involve transferring money abroad.

The FCA has produced a short video highlighting how pension scammers work. You can watch it here.

Avoiding and reporting scams

NOW: Pensions is authorised and regulated as a master trust by The Pensions Regulator (TPR). We’re one of approximately 38 master trusts approved and supervised on an ongoing basis by TPR to maintain the quality of master trust providers in the UK. This means increased protection for members and their pension savings.

We employ a specialist company known as a custodian, which is responsible for guarding and protecting your money. It holds your pension savings, and those of all members, under a custody agreement (which is protected by the law) until you ask for your benefits to be paid. The money is kept in a ring-fenced account which is separate from both NOW: Pensions and the custodian’s own funds and company accounts.

Our custodian is BNY Mellon, one of the world’s largest custodians. It looks after over US$30 trillion on behalf of pension schemes and other investors. It has strong credit ratings: for example, the credit rating agency Standard and Poor’s rates it AA- for long-term deposits.

No. We only ever receive contributions to your workplace pension savings from your employer. No one from NOW: Pensions will ever email you, or phone you, to ask you to pay money to us.

If you’re not sure whether a communication from us is genuine, please email us at membersupport@nowpensions.com or call us on 0330 100 3334 (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm). So we can keep your details safe we’ll ask for your full name, your address and your National Insurance number. (We might record your call to help us improve our service to you.)

We aim to provide an excellent service, but we know things do go wrong from time to time. If there’s something you’re not happy about, please tell us as soon as possible. We’ll do our best to put it right.

Email: membersupport@nowpensions.com

Phone: 0330 100 3334 (Monday to Friday, 9am-5pm)

Or, write to: NOW: Pensions, Maclaren House, Talbot Road, Stretford, Manchester, M32 0FP

We aim to resolve complaints promptly and fairly. If you’re not happy with the way we’ve handled your complaint you can use our formal complaints process, the Internal Dispute Resolution Process.

If you move house, make sure your employer has your new address.

We also tend to contact members by email, so it’s important to update your email address if it changes. That way we can keep you up to date with information about your pension savings.

You can also tell us about changes to your personal details in the following ways:

Online: Use our member contact form for the fastest way to get help with your query.

Email: membersupport@nowpensions.com. To help us help you faster, please quote your full name and address, plus your NOW: Pensions contract ID and National Insurance number in the email.

Call: our member support team on 0330 100 3334 from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. When you contact us, please quote your full name and address, plus your NOW: Pensions contract ID and National Insurance number. We might record your call to help us improve our service to you.

Write to: NOW: Pensions, Maclaren House, Talbot Road, Stretford, Manchester, M32 0FP

If you get divorced or dissolve a civil partnership, your pension savings can be treated as part of the divorce settlement. If your former partner has pension benefits, these can also be taken into account.

There are various ways to share pension benefits in a divorce, including a ‘pension sharing’ order which splits the benefits between you and your former partner.

Please tell us immediately if you’re divorcing or dissolving a civil partnership, so we can send you the information you need.

Online: Use our member contact form for the fastest way to get help with your query.

Email: membersupport@nowpensions.com. To help us help you faster, please quote your full name and address, plus your NOW: Pensions contract ID and National Insurance number in the email.

Call: our member support team on 0330 100 3334 from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. When you contact us, please quote your full name and address, plus your NOW: Pensions contract ID and National Insurance number. We might record your call to help us improve our service to you.

Write to: NOW: Pensions, Maclaren House, Talbot Road, Stretford, Manchester, M32 0FP

It’s a good idea to update your form even if your wishes haven’t changed. The more up-to-date your form is, the more the Scheme Trustee can rely on it as a reflection of your wishes. Every three years is a good rule of thumb.

The older your form is, the more likely it is the Scheme Trustee might have to make enquiries among your dependants and relatives to check if your form really reflects your wishes.

You can download a copy of the form here.

Every three years is a good rule of thumb. It’s important to keep it up to date.

If you can’t remember if you’ve filled in an expression of wish form, simply download one here, fill it in and send it to us. You can post it, or scan and email it. It will replace any old forms you sent in before.

We’ll send you a form when you first join the Scheme. Please fill it in and send it back as soon as possible.

If you need a new form, you can download one here.

You can ask the Scheme Trustee to pay the money to your dependants by filling in an expression of wish form, naming the people you want to get the money.

Keeping your form up-to-date

It’s a good idea to update your form even if your wishes haven’t changed. The more up-to-date your form is, the more the Scheme Trustee can rely on it as a reflection of your wishes. Every three years is a good rule of thumb.

The Scheme Trustee has the final say over who gets your pension savings. This means they can be paid without inheritance tax. The Trustee doesn’t have to follow your wishes, but it usually will unless there’s a good reason not to. 

Download an expression of wish form.

Once you’ve filled your form in, post it back to us at: NOW: Pensions, Maclaren House, Talbot Road, Stretford, Manchester, M32 0FP

Or, scan your form and email it to: membersupport@nowpensions.com

It will replace any old forms you’ve sent in before.

Fill in an expression of wish form to say who you’d like your pension savings to go to if you die before you take them.

The Scheme Trustee has the final say over who gets your pension savings. This means your beneficiaries can be paid without inheritance tax.

You can ask the Trustee to pay the money to particular people by naming them on your expression of wish form. You can name anyone you like – they don’t have to be related to you. It doesn’t have to be people, either. You can name organisations such as charities.

The Trustee doesn’t have to follow your wishes, but it usually will unless there’s a good reason not to your form will help the Trustee to make its decision. The Trustee will also take your final will into account.

Download an expression of wish form.

Once you’ve filled your form in, post it back to us at: NOW: Pensions, Maclaren House, Talbot Road, Stretford, Manchester, M32 0FP

Or, scan your form and email it to: membersupport@nowpensions.com.

Once you’ve filled in your expression of wish form, you should remember to update it every so often – especially if there’s a change to your personal circumstances such as:

• you get married or enter a civil partnership

• you get divorced or dissolve a civil partnership

• you have or adopt a child

• one of the people you’ve named on your form dies.

Whenever you send in a new expression of wish form, it will replace any old ones you’ve sent in before. So each time you complete a form you will need to list everyone you want to benefit from your pension savings.

“Our current understanding is that one of our service partners unintentionally posted some members’ personal data in a public software forum. This happened between Friday 11 and Monday 14 December 2020.

These actions contravened NOW: Pensions’ procedures, as specified for all staff and contractors. The data was visible only to users of that forum for a short time and was copied by a small number of unknown parties. We reported this incident to The Pensions Regulator and The Information Commissioner’s Office.

Protecting our members’ personal data is of the utmost importance to us and we are taking this matter extremely seriously. We acted as soon as we were made aware of the issue.

Relevant members, fewer than 2% of our total membership, who are affected by this incident (the law sets out thresholds about this) have been sent communications setting out our current understanding of the situation and the steps we are taking to mitigate any risks to their data. We would ask those members to refer to that correspondence. We do not have any evidence that any members’ data is being used by unauthorised third parties.”

Patrick Luthi, CEO, NOW: Pensions

If you have any more questions, you can contact us

You can call us on 0330 100 3334 from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday, or email us on membersupport@nowpensions.com.

If you want to transfer your funds to an overseas pension scheme, the scheme must be a qualifying recognised overseas pension scheme (QROPS), verified by HMRC. You can view these schemes on the government website here.


The government’s independent MoneyHelper Service also has useful, free guidance on transferring funds to schemes based abroad.

No. The government thinks it’s so important to give people the chance to save for retirement that your employer is legally obliged to re-enrol you if you qualify. If your employer doesn’t keep to the rules they can face big fines from The Pensions Regulator.

However, if you are re-enrolled you can opt out again if you want to. Your employer will refund any contributions you made while you were re-enrolled, as long as you opt out within one month of being re-enrolled.

Legally, your employer must re-enrol you if you qualify to be in the Scheme. This usually applies even if you’ve opted out before.

Yes. Once you’ve been re-enrolled, you’ll have one month – or from the date we write to you if this is later – to opt out. Your re-enrolment letter will tell you the deadline for opting out.

If you opt out by the deadline, your employer will refund any contributions you made while you were re-enrolled. If you miss the deadline, they can’t be refunded. They’ll stay invested in the Scheme until you retire, or you transfer them to another pension provider.

We don’t want you to go, but you can leave the Scheme at any time. You can opt out online using your member account at nowgateway.com. Log in to your account, select your job contract on the dashboard, select ‘Opt out’ and follow the on-screen instructions. You’ll get a letter saying you have successfully opted out of the Scheme.   

Every three years your employer is legally obliged to check whether there are any qualifying employees who aren’t in the Scheme. If they find you qualify, they must re-enrol you and start making contributions to your pension savings.

We’ll write to tell you if you’ve been re-enrolled, explain how it works and tell you what you need to do.

The first re-enrolment date is around three years from when your employer originally set up the Scheme. The re-enrolment anniversary is every three years after that.

The re-enrolment requirements are set by the government and enforced by The Pensions Regulator.

UK employers must provide a pension for their employees and your employer has chosen the NOW: Pensions Trust (‘the Scheme’) to provide its workplace pension. This is to encourage you to save for your retirement.

If you’ve opted out of the Scheme or were never enrolled into it, every three years your employer is legally required to:

  • check whether any employees qualify to be enrolled and enrol them if they are
  • start making contributions.

The first re-enrolment date is around three years from when your employer originally set up the Scheme. The re-enrolment anniversary is every three years after that.

The re-enrolment requirements are set by the government and enforced by The Pensions Regulator.

Please tell your employer or payroll department so they can look into why this is happening.

If you think your leaving date is missing or incorrect, please send us a copy of your P45 or another document that shows when you left your employer.

You’ll need to post it to: NOW: Pensions, Maclaren House, Talbot Road, Stretford, Manchester, M32 0FP

If you leave your employer, they will tell us your leaving date. We’ll send a statement to your home address showing the value of your pension savings in the Scheme at your leaving date.

If you opt out of the Scheme without leaving your employer, the date you leave will be shown on the Gateway member website. But remember, you may be re-enrolled again in the future.

Either way, once you’ve left the Scheme you won’t pay any more contributions and neither will your employer. Your pension savings will stay invested. We’ll send you a benefit statement every year showing the value of your pension savings. You’ll continue to pay charges on your pension savings and you can find out more about these in our costs and charges booklet.

You can leave your pension savings invested until you retire and take your benefits. Or, you can transfer your pension savings in to NOW: Pensions from another pension provider or out from NOW: Pensions to another pension provider. We don’t charge you to transfer your benefits in or out.

You might want to transfer in or out so you can put all your pension savings together in one place. This could help you maximise your retirement income, as you could get better rates for your retirement benefits if you have one larger pot rather than several small ones.

Transferring out is a serious step and you should look into it carefully. See the Transfers FAQs section for more about transferring out.

Keep your details up to date
It’s always important to keep your details up to date. It’s even more important if you leave your employer, as we need to know where to contact you. You can tell us about changes to your personal details in the following ways:

Online: Use our member contact form for the fastest way to get help with your query.

Email: membersupport@nowpensions.com. To help us help you faster, please quote your full name and address, plus your NOW: Pensions contract ID and National Insurance number in the email.

Call: our member support team on 0330 100 3334 from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. When you contact us, please quote your full name and address, plus your NOW: Pensions contract ID and National Insurance number. We might record your call to help us improve our service to you.

Write to: NOW: Pensions, Maclaren House, Talbot Road, Stretford, Manchester, M32 0FP

Origo is an independent online transfer service for pension savings. Many pension providers, including us, use this service to transfer money securely and efficiently. It cuts down paperwork and speeds up transfer times.

Whether you’re transferring pension savings into or out of our Scheme, it’s worth finding out if your other pension provider uses the Origo service. If they do, you can contact us for the relevant form.

You’ll also need to know your policy number – for Origo, this is your National Insurance number – and the scheme type. Our Scheme is a defined contribution occupational pension scheme.

Yes. You can opt out at any time after being re-enrolled.

If you opt out within one month of your re-enrolment date, your employer will refund any contributions you paid while you were re-enrolled. Your re-enrolment letter will tell you the deadline for opting out.

If you miss this deadline, your employer can’t refund your contributions. They will stay in the Scheme and be invested until you retire and take your benefits, or transfer them out to another pension provider.

The re-enrolment anniversary and opt-out period are set by the government and enforced by The Pensions Regulator.

You can opt back in at any time simply by asking your employer to put you back into the Scheme. You‘ll restart paying contributions (a minimum of 5% of your qualifying earnings) and your employer will also restart their contributions (a minimum of 3% of qualifying earnings).

You can also opt in using your member account at nowgateway.com. Log in to your account, select your job contract on the dashboard, select ‘Opt in’ and follow the on-screen instructions. You’ll get a letter saying you have successfully opted back into the Scheme.

If you’d prefer to fill in a paper form, contact our member support team on membersupport@nowpensions.com for a copy of the opt-in form, or call our member support team on 0330 100 3334.

Remember to tell your employer so they can restart their contributions to your pension savings (though they’ll get a notification through our employer website).

Important: if you joined the Scheme less than 12 months ago and opted out or left, your employer doesn’t have to put you back into the Scheme.

Even if you miss your opt-out window, you can still leave the Scheme at any time. The quickest way to do this is to log in to your online member account at nowgateway.com, select your job contract on the dashboard, select ‘Opt out’ and follow the on-screen instructions. You’ll get a letter saying you have successfully left the Scheme and you and your employer will stop making pension contributions.

Remember, if you miss the opt out window your employer can’t refund your contributions. They will stay in the Scheme and be invested until you retire and take your benefits, or transfer them out to another pension provider.

In line with government legislation, every employee has one calendar month when they can choose to opt out after being auto enrolled into a workplace pension scheme.

We’ll send you an enrolment notice to tell you that you’re a member of the NOW: Pensions Trust (‘the Scheme’) and the deadline to opt out. You can’t opt out before you’ve received this notice.

During your one-month opt-out window, your online member account will show how many days you have left to opt out.

The quickest way to opt out of the Scheme is using your member account at nowgateway.com/login. You’ll need your NOW: Pensions contract ID and date of birth to activate your account if you haven’t already done this.

Log in to your account, select your job contract on the dashboard, select ‘Opt out’ and follow the on-screen instructions. You’ll get a letter saying you have successfully opted out of the Scheme.    

Your employer will refund any contributions you’ve made since the enrolment date as long as you opt out within one month of being enrolled (or re-enrolled) in the Scheme. Your enrolment letter will tell you the deadline for opting out. If you miss this deadline, your employer can’t refund your contributions. They will stay in the Scheme and be invested until you retire and take your benefits or transfer them out to another pension provider.

Don’t miss out

We don’t want you to go but if you do, you’ll miss out on building up pension savings in the Scheme from the money you contribute from your pay. You’ll also miss out on:

  • your employer’s contributions – at least 3% of your qualifying earnings, and
  • tax relief (if you’re a taxpayer).

If you don’t contribute, you miss out on the extra ‘free money’ you get by being in the Scheme. For example, if you’re a basic-rate taxpayer making minimum contributions, you pay £75 into the Scheme and your employer adds £45. You also save £15 you’d otherwise pay as tax, so that £75 only costs you £60.

In other words, a total of £120 goes into your retirement savings and it only costs you £60. You’ve effectively doubled your pension contribution by being in the Scheme.

Opting out means you leave the Scheme within one month of being enrolled by your employer. You stop making contributions and so does your employer. You don’t build up a pension for yourself in the Scheme.

Your employer will refund any contributions you’ve made since the enrolment date, as long as you opt out within one month of being enrolled (or re-enrolled) in the Scheme.

If you opt out, it’s likely you’ll be re-enrolled in the future. This is because your employer’s legally required to check whether there are any eligible employees who aren’t in the Scheme every three years, and enrol them if they are. You can opt out again if you want to.

The opt-out period is set by the government and enforced by The Pensions Regulator.

No. Your transfer value quote is based on information that’s up to date at the quote date. As the transfer value depends on investment values, it can’t be guaranteed because investment values change all the time. The actual transfer value will depend on the value of investments on the date you transfer, so could be higher or lower than your quote.

Your fund value is the total amount of money in your pension savings with us at any time. This is the amount you’ll be able to take when you retire.

Your transfer value is the amount of money you can transfer out of the Scheme.

Because the Scheme is a defined contribution pension, its value goes up and down depending on the performance of the investments it uses. This affects the fund value and the transfer value.

The fund value is updated each week, usually on a Friday or Saturday. You can check the latest value online by logging in to your online member account at nowgateway.com.

The transfer value is the value of your pension savings on the date you transfer them out of the Scheme. Because investment values change all the time, it’s not possible to know exactly what this will be in advance. See Is my transfer value quote guaranteed?

It’s the actual value of your pension savings at the date they’re disinvested from the Scheme and you transfer them out. This depends on investment values which change all the time, so it could be higher or lower than the quote you received. See Is my transfer value quote guaranteed?

Your transfer value is the amount of money you can transfer out of the Scheme. It’s the value of your pension savings on the date you transfer them out.

Defined contribution pensions, like our Scheme, go up and down in value depending on the performance of the investments it uses. Because investment values change all the time, it’s not possible to know exactly what your transfer value will be in advance. If you ask for a transfer value quote, it will be the value at the time you request it – it’s not guaranteed.

No. There’s no charge for transferring your pension savings out of the Scheme to another provider. However, it’s possible the pension provider you’re transferring to will make a charge. You should check this before starting your transfer.

Yes. You can transfer your Scheme pension savings out to another pension provider as long as:

  • you’re a deferred member, no longer paying contributions to the Scheme, and
  • the Scheme Trustee agrees you can transfer out.

We don’t charge you to transfer your benefits out, although it’s possible the pension provider you’re transferring to will make a charge. You should check this before starting your transfer.

As with any transfer there’s a lot to think about to make sure it’s right for you. It’s worth getting help from a regulated financial adviser. Look at Help with finding independent financial advice for more about finding financial advice.

Watch out for pension scams

If you’re thinking of transferring out you’ll need to look out for pension scams, which are on the increase. Every day criminals use sophisticated ways to con pension savers out of their money. Scammers will often start by offering a ‘pension review’ or a ‘one-off investment opportunity’. Eventually, this ‘offer’ will depend on you transferring your pension savings out, supposedly to another legitimate pension scheme but in reality, straight into the scammers’ pockets. You could lose all your pension savings and possibly find yourself with a huge tax bill.

Things to watch out for

  • Any contact about your pension that comes out of the blue, even if the caller claims to be from your bank or a government department
  • Any claims you can get at your pension savings before age 55 without paying large amounts of tax. You can’t.  
  • Website promotions, telephone calls, text messages or adverts encouraging you to transfer your pension savings to get cash or a loan
  • Offers of ‘one-off’, ‘unique’ or ‘time-limited’ investment opportunities – especially if they involve transferring money abroad.

Avoiding and reporting scams

Yes, you can transfer into NOW: Pensions – although you will need to check the Scheme can accept the transfer, as not all pension savings can be transferred in. The Scheme Trustee will need to approve your transfer.

Transferring your other pensions into the Scheme could make managing your pension easier and save on charges.

To find out more, use our member contact form, or email membersupport@nowpensions.com.. To help us help you faster, please quote your full name and address, plus your NOW: Pensions contract ID and National Insurance number in the email.

You can also call our member support team on 0330 100 3334 from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. When you contact us, please quote your full name and address, plus your NOW: Pensions contract ID and National Insurance number. We might record your call to help us improve our service to you.

Transferring your pension savings is a big decision that you need to think about carefully. It may be worth getting help from a regulated independent financial adviser.

Help with finding independent financial advice

The Money Advice Service (part of the government’s Money and Pensions Service) has information about choosing an independent financial adviser and a directory of independent financial advisers that specialise in retirement. Visit moneyadviceservice.org.uk or call 0800 138 7777. You’ll find the directory at directory.moneyadviceservice.org.uk.

The Personal Finance Society (PFS) has a What we do for the public section. This also includes a directory you can filter to find independent financial advisers that specialise in retirement planning. Visit thepfs.org/about-us/what-we-do/for-the-public.

You should check the qualifications of any independent financial adviser you’re thinking of using. They must be qualified to Level 4 (or above) of the Qualifications and Credit Framework and have an up-to-date Statement of Professional Standing. You should also check whether they’re on the official register of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) which regulates independent financial advisers in the UK. You’ll find this at register.fca.org.uk/s.

Other useful organisations

The following organisations also offer free, impartial information and guidance to help you understand pension savings. They don’t offer personalised financial advice. 

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.