Reply to: Umbrella companies and pension providers

[eek]

It's not through agency, the contract is with consultancy who have got relationship with end client.

In which case I would suggest pointing out that there are a lot of other umbrella firms around most of which weren't founded to manage tax avoidance schemes.

I have a lot of problems with Brookson's including the fact they took over my old accountants and it was easier for me to do my own accounts when they had still failed to do them after 8 months of prompting.

[Win]

Could you name your agency so that when a contract is listed by multiple agents we know which one to avoid due to the sheer scale of their laziness and the kickbacks they are receiving...

It's not through agency, the contract is with consultancy who have got relationship with end client.

[eek]

Thanks. Yes, nothing much I can do regarding the choice of umbrella, even though I am paying the fees.

And looks like I will have to suck up the charges as well / will do a calculation but the perceived savings on pension contribution definitely outweighs the one-off charge.

Could you name your agency so that when a contract is listed by multiple agents we know which one to avoid due to the sheer scale of their laziness and the kickbacks they are receiving...

[Win]

Thanks. Yes, nothing much I can do regarding the choice of umbrella, even though I am paying the fees.

And looks like I will have to suck up the charges as well / will do a calculation but the perceived savings on pension contribution definitely outweighs the one-off charge.

[northernladuk]

It looks like I will have to use Brookson as umbrella for my next PAYE Contract .
On initial enquiry for the pension contributors, I was told can only use Aegon .. However there is one off charge of 695 and further ongoing charges of .75%

Does that sound reasonable ? Having self managed my SIPP before I would rather just have Brookson transfer monies in pension pot which I can self manage.

Remember this is only for short period of time. If you intend to be there for even up to a year it's not really a biggie. You then just transfer to your existing provider at the end. Even if it's not reasonable it sounds like there is nothing you can do about it is there? I guess the impact depends on whether you are going to lump as much in as possible to reduce the tax or just put a nominal amount to top the pension up.

But what Eeks says.

The brollies have changed their pension offerings massively in the last year with many putting in to your pot where they wouldn't before. If Brookson are running a crap pension offering they should change it soon as it's about all that differentiates the FCSA offerings and will be a key decision point for potential customers.

[eek]

It looks like I will have to use Brookson as umbrella for my next PAYE Contract .
On initial enquiry for the pension contributors, I was told can only use Aegon .. However there is one off charge of 695 and further ongoing charges of .75%

Does that sound reasonable ? Having self managed my SIPP before I would rather just have Brookson transfer monies in pension pot which I can self manage.

Is the agency paying Brookson's fees because otherwise I would be doing everything I can to move elsewhere.

Because that one off fee is a completely unfair joke as is Brookson's processes.

[Win]

It looks like I will have to use Brookson as umbrella for my next PAYE Contract .
On initial enquiry for the pension contributors, I was told can only use Aegon .. However there is one off charge of 695 and further ongoing charges of .75%

Does that sound reasonable ? Having self managed my SIPP before I would rather just have Brookson transfer monies in pension pot which I can self manage.

[lucyclarityumbrella]

I have a NEST pension (salary sacrifice) account from July 2018 but I haven't been contributing anything to it.

If you find an umbrella who pays into Nest () they would simply add to your existing pension, as it is simply linked by your NI number.

[drob1984]

Try NasaGroup - thats who I'm going with from the new FY. I registered last year, setup SIPP etc all ready for IR35 to come in, however the delays meant I haven't had to use them this year. You pay a £5 weekly charge, but you can quit easily amend what you want put in your pension. I think you can change it on a monthly basis, however contributions are made weekly.

[willss3608]

pension

I'm looking for an umbrella that will be reasonably flexible in changing pension contributions, for example on a quarterly basis, and it does seem there are significant differences in the stance each umbrella is taking on this point.

I've only been looking at a limited subset of the list, due to my agency restricting the umbrellas they will work with. However, I can report that Paystream will let you pay into your own SIPP, and use carry forward, BUT they told me they would only let me alter my contribution rates once per year! They seemed very touchy when I pressed them on this point. I can understand they want to avoid extra administration, but this is a red flag for me.

In contrast, Giant will also let you pay into your own SIPP, and use carry forward, and seem a bit more flexible about changing contribution rates, saying "it's up to the pension provider".

Some others have indicated that changing contributions every quarter is reasonable, but they won't entertain changing them more frequently than that.


In conclusion, before signing up with an umbrella, you definitely want to confirm your specific pension arrangements including how often they'll let you change the contributions (maybe also the scheme too).

z.

Could you please recommend an umbrella which allows change in pension contribution without restriction. ?

[Tessam]

Orange Genie

I've just been going through the same thing. From the FCSA website, the following companies will allow salary sacrifice into your own existing pension fund:

Sapphire
Champion
Unified
Numbermill
Carrington
Brookson [Correction: Would only pay into their own with Aegon, but as my own pension is also with Aegon they said they could pay into that]
Nasa
Pendragon
Paystream
Orange Genie
Liberty Bishop
Fore Two


If it's salary sacrifice, yes, it's taken from gross.

Started trying to administer SIPP with Orange Genie in February...very new to them, took them 2 months to work it out. Salary sacrifice paid to Barclays however I have to send signed Additional Cont form scan for the amount every month. Efficient :-)

[Tynos]

Paystream Umbrella - SIPP

I started with Paystream in March but they pay Pension salary sacrifice on the 19th of the following month and it usually takes at least 2 days to get into my SIPP.
So my SIPP didn't receive any contribution in 2019-2020 tax year.
Since I setup my SIPP a few years ago I can use spare allocation from previous 2-3 years, so I don't have to worry about going over the annual limit next April.

[measterbrook]

Not sure I fully understand your question.

But in my case Paystream made a Pension Payment to my SIPP on the 3rd April 2020. This included all outstanding pensions deductions made to that point including that day's pay. The 3rd April was the last payday of the Tax Year. I don't think you should count days in the tax year, rather what tax year the pay dates fall into as the determining factor.

For pension contributions contribution limits, it is the day it is paid to the pension provider, not the date of the payroll. This may be an issue for Umbrella company "employees" if they roll up all pensions in payslips over a month and pay sometime in the first week of the following month, meaning the March pension deductions could fall into one of 2 tax years. Really difficult if you are close to the limit.

[Acme Thunderer]

Could you tell how did the payments and pension salary sacrifice work with paystream for march/april. Trying to figure out my gross pay until 5th April 2021 and hence the pension contribution per day. Looks like pay is weekly, but the pension contribution is monthly. So, I am not very sure how many days could be considered as this years pay and how many days of them as pension contribution for this year. Paystream have been very helpful, but I am still a bit confused until I see a working example from someone.

Not sure I fully understand your question.

But in my case Paystream made a Pension Payment to my SIPP on the 3rd April 2020. This included all outstanding pensions deductions made to that point including that day's pay. The 3rd April was the last payday of the Tax Year. I don't think you should count days in the tax year, rather what tax year the pay dates fall into as the determining factor.

[newbieunderthesun]

Payment and Pension Salary Sacrifice towards End of FY

Paystream have been excellent. Now starting second 6 month contract with them.
I get monthly salary sacrifice transferred to my old SIPP.
PAYE is weekly, and payslip lists pension contribution. Very clear.

Could you tell how did the payments and pension salary sacrifice work with paystream for march/april. Trying to figure out my gross pay until 5th April 2021 and hence the pension contribution per day. Looks like pay is weekly, but the pension contribution is monthly. So, I am not very sure how many days could be considered as this years pay and how many days of them as pension contribution for this year. Paystream have been very helpful, but I am still a bit confused until I see a working example from someone.