Pensions re-enrolment for director/secretary ltd

[Lumiere]

You have no worries about being inside IR35 in the near future ?

Generally not, but will see when we get there.
That's another reason to avoid setting this all up 3 months before situation may change.

[GhostofTarbera]

You have no worries about being inside IR35 in the near future ?


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[Lumiere]

Received an email from Pensions Regulator about a mandatory pensions re-enrollment due on 1 Jan, but my accountant is away until the 5th.

A couple of years ago we had to go through this process for my partner who is a company secretary and earns around £12k. Accountant charged us around £200-£300 for enrolling and then she opted out as we were not convinced we wanted to contribute to pension fund yet.

The question is how to avoid/made this process simpler so we don't have to go through this every couple of years at a cost and hassle of opting out. What other people with a similar company structure do ?

I see the following options:
1) Make my partner a director - will lose £3000 Employment Allowance
2) Reduce her salary to 10k - will lose on the maximum amount of dividends before threshold (not 50/50 split)
3) Enroll for NEST/opt out ourselves - is it even possible without an agent ?
4) Organise some sort of SIPP pension - haven't done much research on this, not ready to commit yet.

Thanks