Brookson Umbrella Issues / Problem

[RajaStyle]

Hi All

Second month with Brookson Umbrella (forced to use by agency) and this month they managed to overpay me by £836 by making the mistake of allocating someone else invoice to me. They amended my second months wage slip and set me up to their Aegon pension scheme and made a loan charge against me to recover the money.

Picture attached shows the 2 new deductions to my wage slip.

I've emailed them for 3 days running to question why they have made a pension payment to Aegon and setup a loan against me to recover the money but had no response. Their customer services and tactics are shocking, why not just take the £836 from my next pay cycle ? They have just blanket ignored my 3 daily emails on this matter.

I'm new to umbrella's so is it normal for them to assign you to a pension scheme after a set time ? without asking you or even asking how much you wish to contribute. Just seems like a scam to me to get kickbacks from Aegon at my expense.

You may want to avoid Brookson if you can they just seem like cowboys. Is it too much to ask for them to just do their job and just take the money from my agency and just pay me full stop.

They even called me to arrange a ' free financial planning service to ensure my finances were working hard for being a special customer' so they could sell me various finance insurances etc. Don't think they were happy when I said no thanks when they were using a sales speech to make it look like they were doing me a favour.

I've asked them the below 2 questions but been ignored, does anyone else know or have experience of this ?

1. What are the implications of this loan account you have setup ? Is there any interest associated and will it be seen as a taxable benefit (benefit in kind) ?
2. Why is there a pension deduction when I have not setup a pension ?

Below is the original email they sent me on this matter;

================================================== ======

" Unfortunately there was an error when processing your pay this week. We have paid 4 days at £380.00 in error. Your pay has been now recalculated (wrong invoice has been credited off and correct one has been processed) which resulted in an overpayment £836.22.

The loan deduction has been set up to recover the funds from your next pay. Alternatively, you can arrange for a refund to be sent to the account details below. Please quote your unique identification number and title ‘Overpayment Refund’.

Apologise for any inconvenience it has caused. If you require any additional information please do not hesitate to contact me.

Kind regards

Anna"

[hobnob]

I'm new to umbrella's so is it normal for them to assign you to a pension scheme after a set time ? without asking you or even asking how much you wish to contribute. Just seems like a scam to me to get kickbacks from Aegon at my expense.

Yes, it's normal to have auto-enrolment, i.e. you will need to opt out if you don't want to make pension contributions. I would guess that the contributions are 3% for the employer and 5% for the employee. See:
Workplace pensions: What you, your employer and the government pay - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The umbrella should have told you this somewhere, but you might need to re-read the small print in the contract you signed.

[radish2008]

I've been using Brookson for 2 months now and have found them to be fine so it looks like you've had a bit of bad luck. Auto enrolment is a PITA but the rules are the government's not the umbrella's. Seems stupid to auto enrol but apparently it has something to do with stopping businesses 'persuading' their employees that pensions are a bad idea. Details of the auto enrolment are all over their portal so you must have missed them.

[RajaStyle]

Thanks it's strange as I had a discussion about pension with them asking if they could arrange a payment to my existing one and they said no they can't and told me they will send me a form if I want to enrol to their Aegon one to fill in with what I want to contribute etc but at no point did they say it would Happen automatically.

Today I still have no reply from brookson fourth working day complete to answer either question.

Guess nobody else has any ideas about loan implications.

[eek]

Thanks it's strange as I had a discussion about pension with them asking if they could arrange a payment to my existing one and they said no they can't and told me they will send me a form if I want to enrol to their Aegon one to fill in with what I want to contribute etc but at no point did they say it would Happen automatically.

Today I still have no reply from brookson fourth working day complete to answer either question.

Guess nobody else has any ideas about loan implications.

I would have returned the incorrectly paid money - but it's Brookson so equally hell would have frozen over before I worked through them.

[RajaStyle]

I would have returned the incorrectly paid money - but it's Brookson so equally hell would have frozen over before I worked through them.

Thanks, no issue paying them back had they contacted me said what happened and took payment... My worry is I send a payment to their bank and they don't match it or gets lost on their multiple transactions, then have to send them proof chase with multiple emails etc etc Judging by their current competence and responses.

[radish2008]

I've been using Brookson for 2 months now and have found them to be fine so it looks like you've had a bit of bad luck. Auto enrolment is a PITA but the rules are the government's not the umbrella's. Seems stupid to auto enrol but apparently it has something to do with stopping businesses 'persuading' their employees that pensions are a bad idea. Details of the auto enrolment are all over their portal so you must have missed them.

Month 3 was where it all started going wrong !

[RajaStyle]

Month 3 was where it all started going wrong !

I'm glad I left them