alexander beard International Benefits B.V. A Guide to Workplace Pensions & Auto Enrolment

Transcription

1 A Guide to Workplace Pensions & Auto Enrolment What is Automatic Enrolment? Automatic enrolment was introduced to make it compulsory for employers to automatically enrol their eligible workers into a company pension scheme, and the employer must also contribute to the scheme. Its aim is to encourage workers to save enough for their retirement. Automatic enrolment is being phased in and all employers should be part of automatic enrolment by October As an employer, you will receive confirmation of your Auto Enrolment staging date from The Pension s Regulator. Our Automatic Enrolment Service Alexander Beard will assist you with your Automatic Enrolment and our services include: Pre staging date: Providing a comparison table of pension AE qualifying terms for providers from the whole of market. Project management with you and your chosen pension provider to administer the final staging data, installing your preferred auto-enrolment software, working to ensure that members receive the correct opt-out notifications and that the initial contributions are uploaded in a compliant and timely manner. Providing data collection templates Post staging date: We will continue to handle client fund switches with the provider We will provide annual governance reports for the chosen plan to you We will handle all ad-hoc member queries in the first instance including updating beneficiaries, contribution queries etc. What you need to do! For many, Auto Enrolment will be a timeconsuming task and it is best that the preparation begins as soon as possible. If you have not done so already, you should take the following steps at your earliest convenience: Page 1/5

2 9 Months before staging date Register your scheme with The Pension Regulator at Register a contact for your scheme with The Pensions Regulator to receive regular updates regarding their requirements. You can register at Draw up a contact list of all those who will be involved in the auto-enrolment process including personnel, payroll contacts etc and each party with the full list. Provide Alexander Beard with a full membership list confirming the eligible employees who should be included at auto-enrolment, and the contributions they are entitled to. 6 Months before staging date Do you have an existing pension plan? If Yes see i) If No see ii) i. Alexander Beard will establish if the terms of your current Pension Plan meets the AE qualifications, if not then we will negotiate qualifying terms form your existing provider or request terms from other market providers to ensure you comply. ii. Alexander Beard will present a report recommending the company we believe will best serve your needs 5 Months before staging date The employer confirms their chosen provider Alexander Beard will provide appropriate literature for your chosen provider in preparation, including AE software and implementation literature. 4 Months before staging date Completion of chosen providers appropriate documentation for scheme implementation 3 Months before staging date Ideally at this stage the plan will be set up and test running the software ready for the stage date Stage date! Page 2/5

3 After staging Once the first contributions have been applied the provider should raise and send policy documents. Alexander Beard will check and send to members or employer direct. Alexander Beard will assist with any queries or outstanding requirements. Deferring / Postponing your staging date You can defer your staging date up to a maximum of 3 months after your original staging date. In order to do this you MUST contact The Pension Regulator to advise this is your intention. You will still need to communicate to your staff that you have deferred your staging date. Any employees that this would affect are still entitled to join the plan between the original stage date and the 3 month deferment period and you will be obliged to do this as an employer. Communication to your Staff You should contact your staff at the earliest opportunity to communicate what automatic enrolment is and how it will affect them. A full set of notes and guidance template can be found at What happens if you don t comply? Please be aware that should you not comply with automatic enrolment requirements The Pension Regulator has enforcement options including: 1. Informal action 2. Statutory notices 3. Monetary fines 4. Court action Full details of the enforcement actions can be found at Useful Information Details about who counts as an eligible employee can be found at Details regarding minimum levels of contributions can be found at Page 3/5

4 OUR FEES For client companies who only want recommendation and implementation of their workplace pension obligations, once they reach their legal staging date, we offer the following service: Written overview of alternative providers, including Peoples Pension. Implementation of online web based AE management service with selected provider. Establishment Fee: 500 Set-Up Fee: Annual Scheme Maintenance Fees: Additional Services (optional) Auto Enrolment / Pension presentation to your staff This includes detail on Auto Enrolment and your pension and is tailored to your business needs. This will include how it will affect your staff, FAQ s, useful information on what will happen and why in the context of pensions and the current economic climate. Half day session VAT Full day session - 1,000 + VAT Payroll services: No. of Employees Cost per head p.m p.m p.m. Staff Choice: p.m p.m p.m. Page 4/5

5 Auto-enrolment FAQs What are staging dates? The date by which you must have an auto-enrolment scheme in place. This will depend on how many employees you have. When does auto-enrolment come into force? Large employers were issued with the very first staging dates in October 2012, and between then and 2018, all employers will need to have a compliant scheme in place. You can get an approximate idea of when your staging date will be by looking at The Pensions Regulator s (TPR) published tables. TPR will write to you to confirm your staging date closer to the time, but the tables allow businesses to plan in advance. See our section dedicated to staging dates for more information. Who is The Pensions Regulator (TPR)? TPR is the body in charge of administering the rules of workplace pension legislation in the UK and therefore the rules governing auto-enrolment. It provides resources for employers and employees and will have broad compliance control, ensuring all businesses have a suitable scheme in place by the time of their staging date. When do I need to act? You certainly need to act in advance of your staging date, so the best possible advice is to act right now. Begin to gather the information you need to put a pension scheme in place or to assess your current scheme. Those who plan now will find themselves with an easier task to meet their staging date, whilst those who leave planning until that date could end up struggling to have a scheme in place. What if I already have a pension scheme? As mentioned, it is unlikely that most current pension schemes will have been set up to meet all of the rules governing autoenrolment. This means that an assessment of the scheme is vital and some changes may be required. In addition you will need to check with your current pension provider whether they will accept all your employees into the scheme on an Auto Enrolment basis. What if I just do nothing? Auto-enrolment is a compulsory piece of legislation, meaning that all businesses must ensure they have a compliant scheme in place. Failure to do so by your staging date will initially trigger various compliance warnings and advice from TPR, but the regulator also has the power to fine non-compliant companies, and these fines can be very significant amounts. Can we implement an auto-enrolment scheme ourselves, without any outside help? Yes, you can. There s no obligation to seek outside help, especially if you have the in-house time and expertise to carry out the research and implement a new scheme. Again, the best advice is to start early, giving your team plenty of time to do the necessary work. However, the choice of suitable pension provision can be complex and bewildering and you should be mindful of your open-ended responsibility to maintain compliance with the workplace pensions legislation and provide evidence of this to TPR when required. What if my employees don t want a pension scheme? You must have a pension scheme in place and you must auto-enrol employees into it. If they decide they do not wish to join then they may opt-out. As an employer you must keep records to show that they were opted-in and that they decided to opt-out. The process must be then repeated again three years after the employee opted-out. Where can I get further help? Visit the Alexander Beard website at or give us a call on Page 5/5