A major part of the new workplace pension regulations commencing in October 2012 is to ensure that each member of staff is treated correctly, both in terms of the information they are to receive from the employer and their rights to a pension and the contributions payable by the employer. Their area host of employer responsibilities with auto enrolment, called” Employer Duties” and one of the first is to “Assess your workforce”. Whilst this sounds simple enough, it is time consuming and complicated as the category of worker that a member of staff can be now can be very different to what they may be in the future. Under auto enrolment there are two categories of employee, a worker and a jobholder, and they are then categorised as an eligible jobholder, non-eligible jobholder and an entitled worker. So what does all this mean?

A worker is an employee or someone who has a contract to perform work or services personally that is not undertaking the work as part of their own business. A jobholder is aged between 16 and 74, working or ordinarily works in the UK under their contract and has qualifying earnings. Once identified whether the employee is a worker or a jobholder the employer will then be able to categorise the employee as an eligible or non-eligible jobholder or an entitled worker based on their age, whether the worker is working or ordinarily works in the UK under their contract, and whether qualifying earnings are payable in the relevant pay reference period. Currently the criteria for the three categories are as follows:

Eligible jobholder is aged between 22 and state retirement age, working in UK and earnings from employer above £7,475 in the current pay period. These jobholders must be automatically enrolled and the employer must make contributions to the pension scheme.
Non-eligible jobholder is aged 16 to 75, earnings above £5,035 but below £7,475 or 16 to 22 or SRA to 75 with earnings above £7,475. If the jobholder enrols into the pension scheme the employer must contribute.

Entitled workers are aged 16 to 75, working in UK with earnings from employer below £5,035. These workers can join the pension scheme but the employer does not need to contribute.
(The figures used are correct at time of writing but under review with the DWP and subject to change)

There are set times at which the assessment of each employee must be made in order to correctly categorise them into the above. These times are the employer’s staging date for a worker already in employment on that date, the first day of employment for a worker who starts employment after the employer’s staging date, the date of the worker’s 22nd birthday where this occurs after the employer’s staging date, the date of the worker’s 16th birthday where this occurs after the employer’s staging date, the date they receive an opt-in or joining notice from a worker, the deferral date if an employer has chosen to use the postponement provision for a worker, the day after the transitional period has ended if an employer has chosen to use the transitional period for defined benefit or hybrid schemes and the first day of each pay reference period where the first assessment identifies the worker to be a non-eligible jobholder or entitled worker.

Our summer seminars on auto enrolment are now arranged.

To find out more or to book a place please click the link below where you will be redirected to our Ward Goodman website.

http://www.wardgoodman.co.uk/?page_id=3605#book

See you there!

We will be running a series of seminars late June/early July 2012. The seminars will be designed to give a clear understanding of what is required from an employer to fulfil the legal duties for auto enrolment.

Full details will be posted on this website early April. Make sure you book your place early!

Auto Enrolment Solutions is offered exclusively through Ward Goodman Financial Planning Direct. The “solution” is a combination of software, financial planning and commercial financial support such as payroll and HR functions that few other firms other than Ward Goodman can combine in one package.

This webiste has recently been updated to reflect the changes to Staging Dates and we have added some new sections to give a complete overview of the new requirements and the support and advice we can offer.

With auto enrolment commencing this October with the UK’s largest firms and others following over the next few years, we strongly recommend that whatever the size of your business, you take early advice to understand the regulatory requirements, administration demands and costs involved to your business.

To discuss your individual company requirements or to book an appointment with our specialist adviser please go to the contact page or click on the “book an inial meeting” button located on each page.

The government has recently announced that it will defer auto enrolment for the smaller firms for up to a year. This will affect firms with 50 or less employees and will see their staging date deferred until after May 2015 (the next Parliamentary session).

There is also speculation that the phasing of contributions may be reviewed. Further information on both these points will be released in January 2012 and we will then update the website to reflect the confirmed changes.

With corporate governance and with less than a year to go before auto enrolment goes live, some of the UK’s largest companies are busy planning how they will cope with the new laws and the duties imposed on them.

Even with their big HR departments, sophisticated payroll systems and big budgets, they have to plan well ahead for this massive change to pension legislation.

So, what about us, the smaller companies? Do we need to plan ahead?

For many employers who have not yet taken the time to study the detail of auto enrolment, you may feel it’s just about having a workplace pension and making contributions for some employees and that’s it.

Well to a small degree you’d be right. However, let’s say that your pension scheme is the Rolls Royce of pensions with all the bells and whistles but the guy behind the wheel steering it is someone who has never driven before and doesn’t know where he should be driving to! You can imagine the mess, not to mention the cost.

What you will need is a professional chauffeur who knows exactly what to do, how to drive smoothly, where to stop and how to avoid all the fines on the way. You need to ensure the car is well serviced and the chauffeur is trained and fully aware of all the legalities of his role.

Auto enrolment is as much about the regulatory administration, knowing the different classes of employees and which are eligible, non-eligible and entitled, the employer duties, what makes a pension scheme “Qualifying” and having the necessary systems and processes in place to ensure 100% compliance with The Pension Regulator.

For the smaller businesses, planning for auto enrolment is just as big a task as it is for the major companies, in some cases more so. We advise that you find out when your Staging Date will be (available from our website) and then put an 18 month action plan together to include the following:

1. Analyse your employees and identify which fall into what category, eligible, non-eligible and entitled.
2. Understand the Employer Duties and the Regulatory requirements.
3. Examine your existing pension scheme to ensure it meets auto enrolment requirements, what to do if it does not or if you do not have a scheme in place currently; what options are available to you.
4. Review your current systems and processes and consider what you need to update or introduce to manage the compliance, payroll and pension management.
5. Consider the cost implications to your business with the administrative duties, system updates/implementation and pension contributions.

Leaving it all too late may mean you’ll need a getaway driver rather than your chauffeur. At Auto Enrolment Solutions we have the expertise to drive your business through the auto enrolment twists and turns, safely and professionally, whilst you run your business from the back seat.

Call us now on 01202 880074

Letters marking 18 months until the first employers must automatically enrol staff into a workplace pension scheme have started landing in the in-trays of chief executives of the UK’s biggest employers.

The Pensions Regulator is writing to the UK’s biggest companies, alerting them to their new pension duties, which are introduced on a gradual or ‘staged’ basis according to employer size. The regulator is providing a 5-point checklist alongside with the notification letters, plus further information on its website.

In the next 6 months, nearly 600 of the largest organisations employing about a third of the UK workforce (around 10m employees) will have received letters marking 18 months to their particular duty date. In due course, every employer in the UK will have received at least two letters as they approach their duty date.

Bill Galvin, chief executive of The Pensions Regulator, said:

“Today we start in earnest our drive to help educate employers about what they must do to comply with workplace pensions reform. Our message is that we urge every employer to check the approximate date they must comply. The date will vary between October 2012 and February 2016, depending on employer size”.

It is important that employers start to understand the implications and how best to prepare, particularly those companies who will require external help to manage this process. It is estimated that 90% of businesses (Source: Association of Consulting Actuaries) will need to review their existing pension arrangements and seek professional advice.

Our website is designed to help you understand the requirements of the new pension regulations that will affect every employer in the UK from 2012 and offer solutions on how to prepare, implement and manage the employer duties associated with the new law.

This website is designed to help you with:

• Auto enrolment
• Auto enrolment and NEST
• Auto enrolment software
• Auto enrolment staging dates
• Employers Duties
• Auto enrolment contributions
• Auto enrolment guide
• Auto enrolment regulations
• Help with auto enrolment
• Pension reform 2012