Opting out

If you were enrolled in Nest by your employer you have a right to opt out of saving into your pension. But if you do, you may miss out on employer contributions and tax relief.

What opting out means

The words ‘opting out’ have a special meaning when it comes to workplace pensions in the UK.

• You can only ‘opt out’ of saving into your pension within the first month right after you’re automatically enrolled by your employer.
• If you opt out within one month you’ll get back any money you’ve paid in.

If you’ve passed the end date of your opt-out period the money paid into your pension will stay in your pot. You’ll be able to access the money starting when you turn 55, rising to 57 in 2028.

These rules are set by the government – no pension scheme can pay your pension to your earlier except when you can no longer work because of health, disability or terminal illness.

Find your opt-out dates

You can find when your Nest pension opt-out window ends in the welcome letter you receive from us in the post or by logging in to your account.

You should get your welcome letter within 10 working days of being enrolled in Nest.

If you haven’t received your welcome letter within 2 weeks, ask your employer to get in touch with us. Alternatively, you can call our contact centre on 0300 020 0090.

Missed your opt-out date?

Sometimes people miss their opt-out end date but would still like to stop making contributions to their pot. That’s okay – you can take a break from paying into your pension too. See the section ‘After your opt-out end date’.

Deciding to opt out

It’s completely up to you whether to save into a pension or not. However, leaving your employer’s pension scheme means you’ll likely miss out on:

• employer contributions
• tax relief from the government on your own contributions – an extra £25 for every £100 you save

If you’re thinking about cancelling your contributions, it’s also worth considering whether the State Pension will be enough for you to live on. The amount of State Pension you’ll receive will be lower than the full State Pension in some cases – for example, if you have less than 35 qualifying years paying National Insurance (NI) contributions.

Learn about the rules for the full State Pension.

Being automatically re-enrolled

Every 3 years, your employer must re-enrol employees who aren’t saving into their workplace pension. This rule was set by the government to give people who’ve opted out an effortless way to start saving again.

The timing is based on when your employer set up their pension scheme, not your start date.

When you’re re-enrolled after opting out, you’ll get a new welcome message from us. Each time you’re enrolled you can opt out if that’s still the right choice for you.

After your opt-out end date

If it’s after your opt-out end date, we can’t refund your pension contributions to you.

You’ll be able to take money out of your pensions from age 55, rising to 57 in 2028. Again, this rule is set by the government – you can’t access your pension savings earlier except when you can no longer work because of health, disability or terminal illness.

You’ll keep your pension pot and continue to benefit from having your money invested in line with our award-winning investment strategies. At any time, you can transfer your money into another pension or transfer another pension into Nest to combine your pots together.

You can also stop your pension contributions if you need to take a break. If you do you can ask your employer to set you up to start saving into your pension again whenever you’re ready. However, if you’ve opted out or stopped contributing in the past 12 months they don’t have to accept you back into the pension scheme.

Remember, taking a break means you may miss out on tax relief from the government. You’re also likely to miss out on your employer’s contributions.