Yes – but only if you opt out within one month of being enrolled, or re-enrolled (as your employer’s required to do).
Getting a refund after being enrolled
When you’re enrolled in the Scheme for the first time, we’ll write to tell you. You’ll have one month – or the date we write to you, if this is later – to opt out. Your enrolment letter will tell you the deadline for opting out. Your member account at nowgateway.com will also show how many days you have left to opt out.
If you opt out by the deadline your employer will refund your contributions. 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. You can still stop contributions (cease active membership of the Scheme) at any time.
Getting a refund after being re-enrolled
Every three years your employer must check whether there are any eligible employees who aren’t in the Scheme. If they find you’re eligible they’re legally obliged to re-enrol you, even if you opted out within 12 months of being enrolled or re-enrolled.
If you’re re-enrolled, we’ll write to tell you. You’ll have one month – or 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. Your member account at nowgateway.com will also show how many days you have left to opt out.
Again, your employer will refund any contributions you paid while you were re-enrolled, as long as you opt out by the deadline.
How to opt out
We expect most people will welcome the chance to save for retirement in the Scheme. If you opt out, you’ll miss out on the chance to build up pension savings that your employer contributes to.
We don’t want you to go, but if you’re sure you want to opt out (cease active membership), you can do this using your member account at nowgateway.com. 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.
If you’d prefer to fill in a paper form, please contact us online at contactpensionsadmin.com/nowpensions and ask for a copy of the opt-out 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.
Opting back into the Scheme
You can opt back in at any time simply by asking your employer to put you back into the Scheme, or by 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.
Again, if you’d prefer to fill in a paper form, contact us using the details above and ask for a copy of the opt-in/request to join form.