Frequently asked questions

It takes up to five working days for the welcome pack to be delivered to your postal address after you've been enrolled by your employer.

If you haven’t received your welcome pack or can’t find your Nest ID, you can still set up your online Nest account. Visit the NEST login page and click 'I don’t have my Nest ID' to proceed. If you need help, see How do I log into my account for the first time?

If you've forgotten your password for your Nest account, you can reset it online by entering your username, a passcode we'll send to you and answers to your secret questions. If you don't remember the answers to your secret questions, please call us on 0300 0200 090. We'll be able to check your personal details and help you reset the secret questions and your password.

Your employer has enrolled you as they have a legal responsibility to automatically enrol all eligible job holders into a qualifying pension scheme.

You can choose to opt out within your opt-out period which starts three working days after you're enrolled and lasts for one calendar month. See How do I opt out of NEST? for more information.

If you've passed the opt-out period, you can request to stop contributions through your online account or inform your employer. If you stop contributions by logging into your Nest online account, we'll notify your employer that you've stopped contributions so that they don't deduct further contributions from your wages. Please see How do I stop contributions? for more information.

Your Nest retirement pot can be made up of:

• contributions directly paid by you

• contributions deducted from your pay by your employer

• contributions paid in by someone else on your behalf

• tax relief claimed by Nest

• amount transferred in from another defined contribution pension scheme.

Your annual statement shows details of your pension pot as on 31 March. You can expect it between 6 April and 31 January either in your Nest secure mailbox or by post if you’ve asked us to send you paper correspondence.

You can also check the contributions paid into your pension pot from the 'Contributions' tab of your Nest account. Please see How do I check contributions paid into my retirement pot? for more information.

Once you've opted out of Nest, the money is refunded to your employer within 10 working days. It is your employer's responsibility to provide you with a refund.

You may speak to your employer to increase the pension contribution amount deducted from your wages. You can also make additional contributions directly from your bank account. To make additional contributions see How can I make additional contributions?

If you've been automatically enrolled into Nest, you and your employer will need to pay minimum contribution rates set by The Pensions Regulator (TPR) into your Nest retirement pot. If you don't wish to contribute according to the increased rates, you can either opt out if you're still within your opt-out period or choose to stop contributions.

Your money is held for six weeks and three days from your enrolment date before we invest it in your retirement pot. This is called the 'Non Investment Period'. After this period, you'll be able to see the amount within five working days from the day employer makes a payment to Nest.

If you're not able to see the contribution amount in your retirement pot even after the non-investment period, then you can get in touch with your employer and check if they've submitted your pension contribution to Nest.

Your money is held for six weeks and three days from your enrolment date before we invest it. This is called the 'Non Investment Period'. After the non-investment period you'll be able to see the amount within five working days from the day its paid to Nest.

If you're making any additional contributions apart from the amount deducted from your wages, they will show in your pot within five working days from being paid to Nest.

When you join Nest, your money is invested in Nest Retirement Date Fund. We offer a range of Nest fund choices for members and each of these has been designed to work on its own. It's easy to swap between different funds at no extra charge. Please see Fund choices for more guidance on funds.

Your retirement pot remains your property no matter what happens to your employer or to Nest. Even in the highly unlikely event that Nest was to go out of business, the money in your retirement pot would be protected because it's held under trust. No one else can claim your money if Nest or an employer went out of business.

We carefully invest the money in your pension pot. Our online tool gives you transparency about the companies you invest in. For more information please see Which companies does my Nest pension pot invest in?

The Covid-19 pandemic affected markets and investments around the world. But even when times have been turbulent, our members’ investments have held up better than the market at large. When the FTSE 100 fell 34.4% in the first few weeks of the spring 2020 Covid-19 lockdown, the 2040 fund fell by half that amount. Members who were due to retire that year only saw a 0.6% difference in their savings. That’s 60p for every £100 they’d invested. Our funds have since recovered from these low levels.

You can rest assured that our investment strategy has been carefully designed to protect your hard-earned money from events like this. Our in-house investment team continue to closely monitor what’s happening in the wider economy, making any changes to the strategy where necessary. 

During the Covid-19 pandemic, we saw a rise in scams. Our Pension scams and online security page has guidance on how to keep you and your pension pot safe during this time.

Please visit What happens to my pension when there’s uncertainty in the markets? for more information on your investments.

There are two charges that may be applicable when it comes to your pension. These charges are:

• a contribution charge of 1.8 per cent on each new contribution into a member’s retirement pot

• an annual management charge (AMC) of 0.3 per cent on the total value of a member’s fund each year.

For more information on Nest charges and contribution phasing please see Contributions and fees.

Nest will collect the basic rate of tax relief on your behalf from HMRC every time you or your employer makes an eligible contribution to your retirement pot.

The only contributions that are eligible for tax relief are those:

• paid by you

• deducted from your pay by your employer

• paid in by someone else on your behalf.

The contributions that your employer pays for you as part of legal requirement aren't eligible for tax relief.

Nest claims tax relief on the member contributions paid by your employer or any additional contributions directly paid by you or by someone else on your behalf. This is claimed within 90 days from the day we receive the contribution. It will reflect in your Nest retirement pot once we receive the claimed amount.