Summary

  • The government set minimum contributions for employers and employees to make as a condition of auto enrolment
  • If you have been paying in extra regular contributions and need to reduce or stop these, you can contact us
  • If you need to stop paying in altogether, it’s important you understand what you will lose and it may be up your employer’s discretion to readmit you to their workplace pension, excluding their auto enrolment duties
You may need to speak to us about this
Applies to all our plans

How do I take a payment holiday?

Because the government set the minimum contribution levels that both employers and employees must make into their workplace pensions as a condition of auto enrolment, and because employers may offer more generous pension arrangements with additional conditions, it is not possible to take a payment holiday or temporarily reduce your contributions into your workplace pension.

If you have been making additional regular contributions into your pension over and above the minimum requirements, you can lower or stop these additional voluntary contributions by contacting us and we will make the necessary arrangements with your employer.

If you are experiencing short term financial difficulties, you are entitled to cease membership and freeze your pension. However, it is important that you understand what you will lose if you do this, including extra contributions into your pension from your employer and any tax relief from the government. If you do need to cancel your pension contributions, you should aim to re-join your workplace pension as soon as you are able to in order to reduce the risk to your longer-term financial wellbeing.

It is important to know that, if you leave your pension, your employer is not obliged to accept you back into their workplace pension until their re-enrolment date – the date at which they must auto-enrol any employees that are currently not saving into their pension. This may mean you losing a significant amount of additional contributions from your employer.

If you still need to leave, you can use our online chatbot to begin the process.

Use our Opt Out Chatbot

You may also be interested in...

  • My account

    Get help with managing your account and using the Creative Pension Trust Member Portal.

    Click here
  • Popular right now

    Here are the pension questions members are asking at the moment.

    Click here
  • Understanding your pension

    Take control of your pension, understand how it works and the choices you have.

    Click here

Can’t find what you’re looking for? Contact us here