Auto Enrollment
Auto Enrolment (AE) is the new and compulsory employer obligation to provide employees with access to an employer pension scheme.
Overview:
Auto Enrolment is not optional for businesses and The Pensions Regulator can levy penalties against businesses that are non-compliant or fail to implement a scheme prior to their staging date. The staging date is the date by which your scheme must be up and running as well as compliant with all the new requirements. All companies with two or more employees have a staging date for Auto Enrolment based on their number of employees as at 1 April 2012.
By 6 months before your deadline ("staging date") you should have:
- Checked which workers might need to be automatically enrolled into a pension scheme
- Chosen a pension scheme and confirmed that the pension provider will accept all your workers
- Ensured that your payroll systems support Auto Enrolment, and
- Started to make your workers aware of Auto Enrolment.
Once your staging date arrives you must:
- Enrol workers into your chosen pension scheme
- Make contributions to that scheme
- Keep records, and
- Complete registration with The Pensions Regulator
How we can help you?
- Assess your workforce to identify who will need to be auto enrolled
- Assist you in communicating with your staff regarding auto enrolment requirements
- Source your staging date and deal with the registration process
- Advise you in selecting a competent financial advisor to help you choose the pension scheme that is most appropriate for you and your employees
- Ensure your payroll software complies with auto enrolment
- Provide you with reports of pension deductions from employee salaries
- Manage monthly employee opt-in/opt-outs and liaise with your pension provider
- Update all changes to employees and provide you and pension providers with relevant reports
- Help you to manage the risk of potential tribunals for non-compliance
- Provide you with advice on how to structure your employees' salary payments and pension contributions in the most tax efficient way.
We recommend you start planning for Auto Enrolment 12 months before your staging date. If you fail to automatically enrol your workers into a pension scheme you could face substantial fines which can be levied on a daily rate.
