Under the Pensions Act 2008, every employer in the UK must put certain staff into a workplace pension scheme and contribute towards it. This is called ‘automatic enrolment’. If you employ at least one person you are an employer and you have certain legal duties.
What you need to do next will depend on whether you’re about to start your automatic enrolment duties or whether you’re coming back for re-enrolment.
Automatic enrolment – workplace pension duties
Your legal duties begin on the day your first member of staff starts work. This is known as your duties start date. Even if you think you won’t need to put your staff into a scheme, you’ll still have duties. Remember, automatic enrolment is your legal duty and if you don’t act in time you could be fined.
What you need to do and when
- Choose a pension scheme
Choose a pension scheme that can be used for automatic enrolment and put your staff into it. Do this as soon as possible as it may take time to set up and choose the right scheme for you. An independent financial adviser can guide you through this or you can search on The Pensions Regulator for ‘approved’ schemes that meet he auto-enrolment guidelines. - Work out who needs enrolling
You must assess al staff and enrol anyone who meets the criteria for auto-enrolment. This is based on age and income. You must enrol any staff by the duties start date. - Inform your staff
You must inform each individual member of staff in wiring of how the auto-enrolment process will affect them and what their rights are. Youu have to do this within 6 weeks of your duties start date. - Declare your compliance
You must complete your declaration to The Pensions Regulator within 5 months of your duties start date. You must provide them with all the details of your staff, even those hoe are not eligible for auto-enrolment and inform them of how you have met your duties.
Late setting up your pension scheme?
If you haven’t set up your pension scheme within six weeks of your duties start date, you must backdate any contributions you’ve missed.
Getting expert help with your auto-enrolment
Our auto-enrolment experts can help you with all your legal duties, enrolling staff, providing letters, submitting compliance declarations and making sure you are meeting all your duties as an employer. The Moorgate team have a wealth of experience, whether you have 1 employee to look after or 99. Let us help you, it’s what we do best. Then you can get on with what you do best, growing your business.
Contact Jo@moorgates.co.uk or Maria@moorgates.co.uk for a chat about how we can help or call us on 01883 730044