Reply to: Parasol SIPP Contribution Shambles

[gizzmo]

Waiting since April to get paid for my SIPP. Still hasn't received anything from Parasol. I wonder if they lost the payment

That seems really long - i was constantly on at them until they sorted mine out - and so far the last 2 months have gone without any issues. Did you get in touch with the Head of Partnerships whose details I pm'd you?

[cwah]

Waiting since April to get paid for my SIPP. Still hasn't received anything from Parasol. I wonder if they lost the payment

[lucyclarityumbrella]

The personal pension side of things is a logistical nightmare, which is why we have tried to steer away from it. Although I know it is a preferable route for most, it carries some potential issues over the standard offering.

[Paralytic]

I agree with that. I was told it's 'around 22nd' - first was 18th, next was 28th (admin error) and this month was 24th (fair enough, 22nd was a Saturday)

It sounds like it's a "we'll do it when we can be ar$ed" schedule.

[the_rangdo]

From my experience with Parasol there isn't really a schedule of SIPP payment dates. One month it was the 21st of the following month, another it was the 14th, another it was the 28th - even though i am usually paid on the last Friday of the month - which is when the pension amount is deducted.

I agree with that. I was told it's 'around 22nd' - first was 18th, next was 28th (admin error) and this month was 24th (fair enough, 22nd was a Saturday)

[gizzmo]

Have you checked/asked for your Umbrella's payment schedule to SIPP schemes - it could just be that your most recently weekly invoice remittance did not make the defined cut-off date, but will be included in the following month's.

From my experience with Parasol there isn't really a schedule of SIPP payment dates. One month it was the 21st of the following month, another it was the 14th, another it was the 28th - even though i am usually paid on the last Friday of the month - which is when the pension amount is deducted.

[the_rangdo]

Have you checked/asked for your Umbrella's payment schedule to SIPP schemes - it could just be that your most recently weekly invoice remittance did not make the defined cut-off date, but will be included in the following month's.

After escalating I finally got a response - the payment itself turns out to be correct based on what was actually deducted, the information on the portal is wrong.

Bank Holidays (in this case Easter Monday) started the confusion - for me payroll is a Monday, when there's a Bank Holiday that gets deferred to the following day and you get a payslip as normal. On the next Monday, because you've effectively been paid twice in one financial week (Tue-Mon) you get a subsequent updated payslip covering both weeks. For some unknown reason no pension contribution was deducted for the second week yet the portal says it was; the portal states one double and two single deductions, in reality it was three single deductions.

Having two payslips confused the issue (at least it does for me) as they seem to confirm the portal view of events, and around that time my weekly net pay was bouncing around a bit so it wasn't obvious what had happened from a payments received point of view.

Still got an issue with the P60, response was I hadn't submitted my P45 but I have email confirmation it was received. This is pending further response.

[Paralytic]

Well another month and more issues.

SIPP - I'm paid weekly, they deduct pension contributions weekly but pay my SIPP once per month - this month I've had 3 weeks contributions, should have been 4.

Have you checked/asked for your Umbrella's payment schedule to SIPP schemes - it could just be that your most recently weekly invoice remittance did not make the defined cut-off date, but will be included in the following month's.

[the_rangdo]

Well another month and more issues.

SIPP - I'm paid weekly, they deduct pension contributions weekly but pay my SIPP once per month - this month I've had 3 weeks contributions, should have been 4.

P60 - incorrect, doesn't include my previous employment details.

Emails hitting a wall of silence, can't be bothered ringing as last month all they did was take a message and do f'all with it and I'm trying to stay calm. Currently I'm following their escalation process and have flagged with my agency given Parasol are on their PSL.

[richt5a]

Another one suffering Parasol SIPP Issues and have also, like gizzmo, ended up dealing with Head of Partnerships after several escalations, including via their twitter account and the account manager I signed up with in the first place, as no one was responding to anything via mail or phone.

To be fair to Parasol, my SIPP Provider can't accept weekly and variable payments with or without associated documents, which is meaning me moving to monthly timesheet and payroll so that Parasol can pay a fixed monthly amount to my SIPP.

My latest issue now is the Parasol monthly margin which they want to base on the assumption that I work 52 weeks per year, i.e
monthly margin = (weekly margin * 52) /12!
Which means I'd end up paying a higher margin for them to process 12 timesheets, payrolls and pension payments than if I stayed weekly and they had to process 46!
They've been told that's not acceptable! Awaiting a response.

[Great Britten]

I'm getting exactly the same issue with Orange Genie - was supposed to have been paid in on the 6th of the month but still nothing despite numerous email exchanges.

From my own experiences and from reading this thread, it looks like these outfits just can't handle the workload generated by what I assume is a mass uptake of brolly services since the IR35 changes came into effect. It's a right royal mess.

[cwah]

After several escalations my issue for this month has finally been sorted out - but the cash was sitting unapplied for 3 weeks. I now have a direct contact with the Head of Partnerships who is apparently going to hand hold my next payment to make sure it goes through with no issues - I can DM you his details if you send me a DM

Sent you a DM. Thank you

[gizzmo]

I've been repetitively sending email and email reminder and call reminder to parasol since the beginning of April asking for a breakdown of the payment (SIPP vs salary). They keep answering vaguely and only after 1-2 weeks. To date I still didn't have an answer and still haven't been paid.

After several escalations my issue for this month has finally been sorted out - but the cash was sitting unapplied for 3 weeks. I now have a direct contact with the Head of Partnerships who is apparently going to hand hold my next payment to make sure it goes through with no issues - I can DM you his details if you send me a DM

[cwah]

I've been repetitively sending email and email reminder and call reminder to parasol since the beginning of April asking for a breakdown of the payment (SIPP vs salary). They keep answering vaguely and only after 1-2 weeks. To date I still didn't have an answer and still haven't been paid.

[gizzmo]

It was a manic 2 weeks with numerous calls back and forth between AJ Bell and Parasol - I was basically acting as their comms link as neither would pick up the phone to speak to the other. AJ Bell had tried to phone Parasol several times but no one was calling them back.
I ended up escalating and raising an official complaint and got an email from a Manager at Parasol who is now dealing with the complaint.

Finally on Fri i think they seem to have resolved it as I got a note from AJ Bell saying my contribution for the correct amount has now been received but will show in my account on the next working day - given the bank holiday i expect that means Tuesday so i hope it will be there by then.

I had numerous calls with Parasol - eventually got to a manager - and was quite disheartened to hear that they had simply resent the corrected file without any follow up from AJ Bell that they had received it - and it was sitting in an inbox queue somewhere because Parasol had sent it to the wrong e-mail address. Finally they started picking up the phone when i passed onto them that AJ Bell said they as hadn't been able to apply the funds for 14 days they would have to return the money.

Apparently there was about 15 AJ Bell SIPP accounts affected so i am sure others have experienced the same. I have asked them what controls they intend to put in place to ensure it doesn't happen again. Let's see what they say.

Before this I was actually very happy with the process - as once the Pension amounts had been reconciled, the pensions team even send you a draft of the email you need to send to AJ Bell so all you need to do is cut and paste the text and declaration into an new email to AJ Bell to inform them how much will be paid in and on which date.

Next payroll just ran end of April so will have the whole shabang again in a couple of weeks - fingers crossed for no issues this time.