Automatic Enrolment in BrightPay
Auto enrolment is automatic for employees, but it is not automatic for employers. Employers who have at least one employee have to carry out a number of mandatory duties to fully comply with automatic enrolment. The Pensions Regulator recommends that you use payroll software that will cater for and handle the auto enrolment duties.
BrightPay automates and streamlines many of the auto enrolment tasks, making it easy for employers to comply with their new pension duties. All BrightPay licences include full auto enrolment functionality at no extra cost.
Automatic Enrolment with BrightPay
Duties Start Date
Your duties start date is the date your automatic enrolment duties come into effect for you. Once the duties start date (previously staging date) is known, this can be entered into BrightPay. When the duties start date has been reached, on-screen alerts will notify the user of auto enrolment duties that need to be performed. 
Pension Scheme Set Up
As soon as you have registered with a pension provider and have your pension scheme details, these can be entered in BrightPay ahead of your duties start date. BrightPay is compatible with 18 different workplace pension providers and includes direct API integration with NEST, The People's Pension, Smart Pension and Aviva. Click here to find out more.
Employee Assessment
Once the duties start date is reached, BrightPay will assess all employees automatically. BrightPay will use an employee’s age and qualifying earnings to determine whether an employee is an eligible jobholder, a non-eligible jobholder or an entitled worker. BrightPay will automatically monitor any changes to an employee's work status each pay period.
Postponement
Some or all employees can be postponed for up to three months. This means you won’t need to assess any postponed employees until the last day of their postponement period, at which point you must enrol any eligible workers. As soon as the employee's deferral date is reached, BrightPay will automatically assess the employee and notify you that you have duties to perform.
Enrolling Employees
If an employee needs to be enrolled, on-screen alerts will appear to notify you that you have auto enrolment duties to perform. Eligible jobholders are seamlessly enrolled into a pension scheme. A useful feature in BrightPay is the option to batch enrol more than one employee at the same time. When enrolling an employee, users will have the option to enrol multiple eligible jobholders into the same pension scheme.
Auto Enrolment Letters
Once an employee has been enrolled, BrightPay will automatically prepare their enrolment letter. Non-eligible jobholders, entitled workers and postponed employees must also receive a letter, informing them of their rights and explaining how auto enrolment applies to them. Letters are personalised to each individual employee and they can be printed, exported to PDF or emailed directly to the employee. 
Opting In and Joining
Non-eligible jobholders have the right to opt-in to a pension scheme where the employer must pay contributions towards the scheme. Entitled workers have the right to join a scheme, however, for entitled workers, there is no obligation on the employer to make any contributions towards the employee's pension. BrightPay can easily process both requests.
Opting Out & Refunds
Once enrolled, eligible jobholders have the right to opt-out of the pension scheme. If an employer receives an opt-out notice from the pension provider for an employee, you need to stop taking money out of their pay and arrange a full refund of what has been paid to date. BrightPay can process opt-out requests and automatically issue refunds of contributions, where applicable. 
Ongoing AE Duties
Automatic enrolment is an ongoing responsibility – your duties do not end after your duties start date. Employers must continue to deduct contributions, manage opt-ins and opt-outs and monitor any changes to their employees’ worker category after the duties start date. BrightPay will automatically monitor the ages and qualifying earnings of employees each pay period. Should an employee become an eligible jobholder, BrightPay will alert the user of their auto enrolment duties.
Pension Contributions Files
A file containing contribution amounts needs to be uploaded to the pension scheme every pay period. BrightPay can produce contributions files (and where applicable enrolment files) in the correct format for various pension schemes. Some pension providers have enabled direct API integration with BrightPay. This means that the relevant pension files can be submitted directly from BrightPay into the pension provider's portal, similar to how RTI submissions are sent to HMRC. Click here to find out more.
Auto Enrolment Reporting
You must keep records of how you’ve met your legal duties for six years, except for requests to leave the pension scheme which must be kept for four years. BrightPay’s report writer allows the user to create and customise reports as required. BrightPay also provides an automatic enrolment 'Journey Report', which details the automatic enrolment journey for each employee within the payroll. 
Automatic Re-Enrolment
Every three years employers must put certain members of staff back into an auto enrolment pension scheme. This is called re-enrolment. Whether you have staff to put back into your scheme or not, you must complete a re-declaration of compliance to inform The Pensions Regulator that you have met your re-enrolment duties. Click here to find out more about automatic re-enrolment.
Book a demo today to discover how BrightPay can help you with your automatic enrolment duties. You can also check out our online help guides and step-by-step video tutorials.
