BBCpensions:areyougettingafairdeal?

Directors UK CEO, Andrew Chowns explains the steps you need to take to claim your BBC pension entitlement:

At a recent meeting with BBC drama directors we spent some time talking about how the BBC was operating auto-enrolment pensions for freelance directors. As a very large organisation, the BBC is one of the first to have to implement this new requirement, under which employers have to offer a pension to any employee (staff or freelance) who meets certain basic age and pay criteria.

A number of members made the point that the BBC does issue notifications about this when you begin an engagement, but that it also appears to “withdraw” the offer, stating that there is an 11-week “qualification” period that means that most freelance director engagements do not qualify. This happens on each block engagement, and as a result very few freelance directors have actually been able to receive pension contributions.

I have taken some advice on this from our own pensions experts. The BBC – like any employer – is entitled to postpone the assessment of any new auto-enrolled pension by 3 months, and this would seem to be their policy in every case. However, our expert says that this is only in relation to their requirement to auto-enrol you. It does not prevent you – if you qualify under the age and pay criteria, which pretty much all freelance directors will – from notifying the BBC yourself that you wish to have an auto-enrolled pension and to do this for every one of your BBC engagements.

There is a little bit of admin to do on each engagement in order to claim this, but it is not too arduous. You have to send an opt-in request to the BBC’s HR department to the email address below. The request must state your full name and address and should include PAE Opt In Notice in the subject bar of the email.

If you are self-employed, the email to write to is: [email protected].

If you are on a PAYE contract, write to: [email protected]

The content of the email must also contain the following statement: “I confirm I personally submitted this notice to join NEST”.

Upon receipt of the email the BBC will then send out the appropriate information and membership of NEST will be established. As long as you meet the criteria to be either an Eligible or Non-Eligible Jobholder (see table below) the BBC are required to make a contribution to the Pension Scheme as well as your own contribution, and they cannot avail themselves of any postponement option. 

Age of UK worker	22 to State Pension Age	16 to 74	16 to 21 and SPA to 74	16 to 74
Earnings triggers and thresholds	Above £10,000 up to £42,385	Above £5,824 up to £10,000	Above £10,000 up to £42,385	Below £5,824
Employer must Auto-enrol	Yes	No	No	No
Employee choices	May Opt-out	May Opt-in	May Opt-in	May ask to join a scheme
Employer must contribute	Yes	Yes	Yes	No

 

Unfortunately, it is not possible to retrospectively opt-in to an Automatic Enrolment Scheme once the engagement has finished. Under the legislation there are mandatory communication requirements on the employer and an employee must be notified of their right to opt-in or join either during a postponement period or at any point in the future when they have been assessed and have not met the criteria. Therefore, the onus is always on the employee to make the request to opt-in if they are unlikely to meet the qualifying criteria.

Your contributions would be applied to the same NEST Account in the event of a new contract being started, whether you are automatically enrolled or you make a request to opt-in. This is because NEST verify the employee based on their National Insurance Number. This would also be the case if the employee is contracted to a completely new employer.

If you have any further questions about BBC pensions, please contact Andrew at [email protected].