One aspect of payroll that needs to be taken care of right away is auto-enrolment workplace pensions.
- I run a business
- My business is still active
- I employ at least one person
- At least one employee is aged between 22 up to State Pension
- At least one employee earns over £10,000 per year (£833 per month / £192 per week)
Did you answer ‘YES’ to the above criteria? If so, you are now required by law to offer a workplace pension scheme. You will also be required to make contributions to the pension plans of employees who are paying into the scheme
By 2018, this will apply to all employers
You should have by now received notices from The Pensions Regulator however if you are unsure about your staging date, just follow the link below.
http://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/employers/staging-date.aspx
This staging date is extremely important as this is when your employer duties begin. Should you not comply within the relevant timescales, it can become extremely costly for your business.
The Pensions Regulator has begun to issue Fixed Penalty Notices to employers who miss their staging date deadline, which left ignored, can escalate into a County Court Judgement and could negatively impact the company’s credit file and their ability to secure funding in the future.
This is not just a warning!!!
A client came to us in June 17 with a staging date of October 16 and due to various reasons had not completed their relevant duties. They have received a fine of £11,000! In addition to this they were also required to back date their employer AND employee contributions which was calculated at approx £5,500.
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Know what is required
The following are general steps which employers are required to complete:
- Confirm contact details: Inform The Pensions Regulator who should be contacted regarding help and guidance for your company pension.
- Choose a pension scheme: NEST/NOW/PEOPLES PENSION
- Assess your workers: Work out who is eligible
- Aged between 22 and state pension
- Earning over £10,000 per year (£833 per month / £192 per week)
- Write to your staff: Within 6 weeks of your staging date
- Letters to all eligible employees explaining how auto-enrolment applies to them and the ability to opt-out.
- Letters to all non-eligible employees giving them the option to opt-in.
- Declaration of compliance: Within 5 months
Declaration of compliance is an online form that must be completed to let The Pensions Regulator know how employers have met their legal duties for automatic enrolment.
All businesses have five months from their staging date to complete the online declaration of compliance. If your declaration of compliance is not completed, The Pensions Regulator assumes your auto-enrolment duties have not been fulfilled and is likely to issue you with a fine.
Over to you
Feeling overwhelmed? Not sure where to start? Spending valuable time trying to understand the rules & regulations?
Let us reduce the time and stress for you and take advantage of our Pension Set-Up Scheme.
If you are interested in learning more about our services, please fill our contact us form, and we will call you at the earliest.
