The staging date is the date when your automatic enrolment duties start. You need to ensure that you have chosen a pensions scheme, registered with it and enrolled your eligible employees to that scheme BEFORE this date.
It would be best if you let The Pension Regulator know who will be responsible for automatic enrolment. The point of contact is usually the senior-most person or director of the organisation.
Staff become eligible for enrolment based on their age and monthly gross earnings. You need to enrol all eligible staff members to the pension scheme before the staging date.
From the staging date onwards, under the workplace pension scheme, every employer must deduct an appropriate amount of employees’ contribution from their salary and pay it to the pension scheme provider.
In addition to this, the employer will have to make a minimum pension contribution for each employee to the pension scheme provider.
To enrol staff into a pension scheme, you will have to provide their details like date of birth, NI number, monthly pay etc. to the pension scheme provider. For this, you will need to keep all staff records up to date. Ensure you have correct information about your team in the valid format for your pension provider’s software. If possible, generate a test report for submission before the staging date. Using a payroll software will simplify and speed up the process and ensure necessary reports are submitted on time in the required format.
If you already have a pension, it is worth checking with the pension provider to see if it can be used for auto-enrolment. If you do not already have a pension scheme you will need to choose one. There are a number of providers including the National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) which is established by the Government and will accept all employers that apply to join it. A list of pension providers and guidance on how to choose a pension provider can be found at www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk. Please note, Taxacc Solutions Ltd is not regulated or authorised by FCA to provide any advice on choosing pension scheme so, we cannot provide any advice but, we will work based on your instructions. If you need, you can get a professional advice from an Independent Financial Advisor to help you choose an appropriate scheme.
At your staging date, you must add all eligible staff to the chosen pension scheme by providing necessary information to a pension provider to make them active members of your pension scheme.
At the staging date, you must write to staff informing them about the pension scheme and how are they affected by automatic enrolment.
From your staging day onwards you will be legally obliged to deduct pension contributions from your staff salary and pay these to the pension provider. Also, you will pay an additional amount to the pension provider as an employer’s contribution. Both these amounts will be as per the costs calculated in item 4 above. If you use payroll software, this will automatically be done for you once set up. Currently, the law requires these payments to be made by the 19th of each month.
Within five months of your staging date, you must complete a declaration of compliance which confirms that you have complied will all your duties under automatic enrolment.
As your payroll service provider, we can assist you setting up the pension scheme at fixed fee of £400.