Millions of employees now have the opportunity to start building savings for their retirement, as a result of automatic enrolment.
Under the Pensions Act 2008, every employer in the UK must put their qualifying employees into a pension scheme and, where appropriate, pay contributions. This is called automatic enrolment.
If you employ at least one person you are an employer and you have certain legal duties. Get to know how automatic enrolment applies to you by visiting The Pensions Regulator (TPR) employers’ pages.
If you are it’s important that you understand what to do and by when so you can meet your automatic enrolment duties. You can do this by using TPR’s online tool to check your duties.
If you deduct income tax and National Insurance contributions from the wages of the person you employ, then you are usually their employer. If you have used an agency to hire the person and the agency pays their National Insurance contributions, the agency is the employer and you don’t need to do anything. Find out how automatic enrolment applies to you using the online tool on TPR’s website.
Visit TPR’s website and use the online tool to find more information on what you need to do and by when.
Automatic enrolment is a continuing responsibility for employers, and there are ongoing duties to carry out after you’ve completed your declaration of compliance.
For example, each time you pay your employees, including new starters, you must assess their age and earnings to see if they need to be put into a pension scheme, and how much you need to pay in. You must keep records relating to your scheme, and manage any requests to join or leave it.
Find out more about the ongoing duties you have as an employer on TPR’s website.
Every three years you’ll need to put any of your eligible employees who previously opted out, or stopped saving into your pension scheme, back into it. This is called re-enrolment – it’s a two stage process, which is complete once you’ve re-declared your compliance. TPR has information about this on their website .
Get to know your responsibilities. It’s the law.
Your legal duties don’t end once you’ve set up a pension scheme and put your eligible staff into it. You must continue to make the payments that are due into the scheme every time you run payroll – which must be at least the minimum legal amount. TPR monitors the contributions that are paid into workplace pensions, and can tell if payments that are due are not being made into your staff’s automatic enrolment scheme. TPR will take action if you fail to comply with your ongoing legal duties, and you may need to backdate any missed payments. Find out more about your ongoing duties on the TPR website .
The Pensions Regulator is a public body set up by the UK Government to regulate workplace pensions. Information and help are available on their website and they may write to you about your automatic enrolment duties as an employer.
