Copyright © 2024 Thesaurus Software Ltd T/A Bright Software Group.
3 Shortlands, Hammersmith, London, W6 8DA
hellobrightpayuk@brightsg.com 0345 9390019Oct 2016
20
In a recent survey of employees in the UK undertaken by YouGov, on behalf of the workplace pension provider Smart Pension, has resulted in more than one third of employees have now set up a pension through the government's auto-enrolment initiative.
Results of the survey regarding employees about what type of pensions they have are:
• 36% said their pensions were created under auto-enrolment,
• 28% said they had non-auto-enrolled workplace pensions,
• 17% had a standard personal pension (SPP),
• 8% had a self-invested personal pension (SIPP) and
• 7% had a stakeholder pension.
• 6% had no idea what sort of pension they have
• 17% said they have no pension
Will Wynne, co-founder and MD of Smart Pension, said: “Auto-enrolment has already overtaken every other form of pension, including personal pensions, in a very short space of time. The initiative is clearly gaining momentum and looks on track to hit targets over the next two years when 1.8m small and micro firms have staged.”
Opt-outs
19% of UK employees said they would either opt out or have opted out of their workplace scheme, this is higher than the governments targeted figure of 15% opt-out rate. Currently the government's own figures are circa 10%, almost half than the amount resulted per the poll.
The main reason employees are opting out are due to lack of available monies (26%) or they would not want to invest in a pension (17%). 48% of employees did not want to think of preparing and saving for old age although 56% of employees believed they were not preparing adequately for retirement and saving enough. The results of the survey showed that most employees could afford to invest more money in their pension but they had no intention of doing so.
A separate poll found 55% of employers thought auto-enrolment was a burden and 38% said it was unfair, but 72% said they felt it would not hold back growth plans.
Aug 2016
25
With holiday season upon us, if you are a payroll bureau and your client's declaration of compliance deadline is fast approaching, you can help them to avoid a fine by starting the declaration as soon as possible and ensuring that it’s completed on time.
A declaration of compliance must be submitted to the Pensions Regulator within 5 months of your client’s staging date to inform them of what actions they have been performed to meet their auto enrolment duties.
If you are performing some auto enrolment tasks on your client's behalf, it is important that you both agree in advance who will be completing the declaration so that there is no confusion.
The Pensions Regulator produces a declaration checklist to help gather all the information needed to complete the declaration.
Aug 2016
17
In The Pensions Regulator's monthly declaration of compliance report over 200,000 employers have completed their automatic enrolment duties and over 6.5 million employees have been enrolled in an automatic enrolment pension scheme. In July's Declaration of Compliance Report shows that more than 6.5 million employees have began contributing to their pension after having been automatically enrolled by their employer.
Over 156,000 small and micro (up to 9 employees) employers have now declared that they have complied with their automatic enrolment duties. This is over 3 times the amount of medium and large employers that have complied, over 44,000. Over 960,000 employees employed by small and micro employers have been enrolled under automatic enrolment.
Jun 2016
29
A declaration of compliance needs to be completed and submitted to the Pensions Regulator within five months of the staging date. A Declaration of Compliance is the employer informing The Pension Regulator that they have met their automatic enrolment duties. For example, if the staging date is 1 July 2016, you must submit your declaration of compliance to the pension regulator no later than 31 November 2016. This deadline can be also called your registration deadline. If your registration deadline falls on a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday, you can provide your registration on the next working day. If you’ve postponed automatic enrolment for any of your staff, you mustn’t submit your registration until after the postponement period has ended.
If you do not submit your declaration of compliance in time you may be fined. It is a legal duty that the declaration of compliance is fully completed with the correct information and submitted on time.
Should you be experiencing any issues regarding your automatic enrolment process or collecting the relevant information for your Declaration of Compliance contact The Pension Regulator immediately. The Pension Regulator's website has a help section: http://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/automatic-enrolment-registration-questions.aspx.
Jun 2016
29
An employer who wanted to bring their staging date forward had previously to give The Pensions Regulator (TPR) notice of one month. Employers are no longer required to give The Pensions Regulator one month's notice. If an employer wants to bring forward their staging date now they will still have to notify the Pensions Regulator but only will have to do so at any time on or before their new staging date.
But employers who do have employees for automatic enrolment need to agree the date with the Pensions Regulator and like all staging dates it has to be the 1st day of the month. Employers with no employees for automatic enrolment can bring forward their staging date to a date of their choice and also complete their declaration of compliance at the same time thus fulfilling their automatic enrolment duties as an employer. The requirement for employers with no employees for automatic enrolment to set up a pension scheme is no longer required. They only need to do this once they have an employee for automatic enrolment purposes.
Jun 2016
28
Our very own Paul Byrne was recently interviewed by Richard Hattersley at Accountex about automating the process of auto enrolment. We understand by automating automatic enrolment, businesses can increase efficiency and streamline an otherwise labour intensive process. Watch this video to understand how your business can process automatic enrolment more productively.
BrightPay can not only facilitate auto enrolment but the software has the power to tell you when you need to enrol your employees and when to send the auto enrolment letters. Once the staging date is entered, BrightPay knows to complete the employee assessment. BrightPay will then tell you which worker category each employee falls into.
From there, BrightPay will automatically create the relevant letter for each employee. These letters are personalised with employee details and are customised to suit each employees worker category. It is possible to email, print or export all of these letters for all employees in minutes.
With BrightPay automatic enrolment is easy. Book a free online demo of BrightPay today. We also offer a 60 day free trial which includes full functionality of all features. Don’t worry we won’t ask you for any credit card details. If you are an employer with three or less employees, BrightPay is completely free. You can download your free licence here.
Click here to find out about BrightPay's auto enrolment features.
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Jun 2016
13
Employers MUST enrol all eligible jobholders into a qualifying AE pension scheme, even if they know or think that all employees are going to choose to opt out. Employees need to have the ability to exercise their right to opt out. Employers must also arrange active membership for non-eligible jobholders and entitled workers if they exercise their right to opt in or join the pension scheme.
Opting-out is when a jobholder decides to leave the pension scheme that has been set up by the employer within a set opt-out period. The employee needs to decide within a month of becoming an active member of the pension scheme if they want to opt out. Employers must not try to persuade or encourage their employees to leave or opt out of the pension scheme. This is considered to be an inducement.
Opting out for the employee:
Jobholders can only opt out of a scheme once they have become an active member and have been given the required auto enrolment communications by their employer. Opting-out can only happen within a specific time period, known as the ‘opt-out period’. If a jobholder decides they wish to opt out, their employer must receive an ‘opt-out notice’ for the employee, which is normally provided by the pension scheme. Entitled workers who decided to exercise their right to join the pension scheme are not entitled to opt out but they do have the right to cease active membership.
There is a fear that some employees may feel pressurised into opting out of the scheme.The decision to opt out must be taken freely and without any persuasion from the employer. An opt-out notice must not be submitted until the jobholder has become an active member of a scheme. If the employee subsequently changes their mind and wishes to opt back into a scheme, they need to write to their employer informing them of this decision. If the employee decides to remain out of the scheme, the employer will automatically re-enrol them back into the pension scheme in three years time should they meet the necessary criteria. The employer must also keep records of any employee opt-outs to assist with this.
Opting out for the employer:
The employer must take action once they receive an opt-out notice for a jobholder. Employers need to check that they receive a valid opt-out notice and that it is within the relevant ‘opt-out period’. Once the employer has received a valid opt-out notice, they must stop deducting contributions immediately. The jobholder needs to be treated as if they have never been a member of the pension scheme and should be refunded any contributions that have already been deducted to date.
Employers must not accept an invalid opt-out notice, for example if the jobholder is outside of the opt-out notice period. If the employer receives an opt-out notice after the opt-out period, they must instead cease active membership for that jobholder. Jobholders who leave an occupational pension scheme after the opt-out period has ended, may also be entitled to a refund of contributions. This will depend on when their pensionable service started and the pension scheme’s own rules. The employer must also communicate and explain to the employee why it is invalid.
Employees who are pressurised into opting out are asked to inform The Pensions Regulator.
Remember all employers need to complete a Declaration of Compliance which will inform The Pensions Regulator how they have complied with their automatic enrolment duties.
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May 2016
10
Auto-enrolment brings both new challenges and new opportunities.
When I talk to smaller practitioners I am no longer surprised when they tell me that they struggle to attract their ideal clients. They may have a steady flow of new clients through their website, referrals or networking. But all too often these new clients aren't willing to pay the fees accountants want to charge. And these new clients aren't often likely to want more than the bare basics of the service available.
Is this ringing any bells?
The first thing to stress is that if you want things to be different it is you who will have to do something different first. If you carry on doing what you have always done, you should expect nothing better than you've always got.
Perhaps you have decided on your preferred solution as regards auto-enrolment. If you are able to discuss and explain the options with employers you may find that you are one step ahead of the competition. Would you rather be taking on new clients who have already decided how to address their auto-enrolment obligations or those who need your help in making the crucial decisions?
Here are five simple steps you need to take if you want to attract your ideal clients:
On 17th May you can learn more about this and how to stand out from your rivals to attract clients who are happy to pay you a premium for that special something only you can deliver. That's just one of the topics I will be addressing during the accountants' breakthrough webinar.
You will hear from myself and Patrick McLoughlin of Accounting for Growth, the practice growth specialists. Patrick will explain the 4 core competencies you must master to attract a consistent flow of ideal clients.
We are collaborating on this new project which starts with this 60 minute Free Webinar, from 11am, May 17th. It's the first of a series that will form the Accountants' Breakthrough Programme.
Register now by clicking on this link to ensure that you qualify for founder member status and special privileges even if you cannot make the launch webinar on 17 May.
Mark Lee FCA can be reached through his website: www.bookmarklee.co.uk.
May 2016
4
As automatic enrolment is a requirement that all employers must comply with and with compliance rates of all sizes of employers remaining high (in the high nineties) there are a number of employers that are not complying. According to The Pensions Regulator's (TPR) latest quarterly compliance and enforcement bulletin the amount of Escalating Penalty Notices that are issued is rising.
An Escalating Penalty Notice (EPN) can be issued by The Pensions Regulator to help employer compliance with their automatic enrolment duties and is one of the statutory powers of the TPR. Employers risk a fine that increases daily if they do not regard a 28 day warning notice. On an EPN the date is specified that the employer must comply with certain duties or can be penalised with a fine that increases daily. For employers with 1 to 4 employees the fine is £50 per day and for employers with 5 to 49 employees the fine is £500 per day. If an employer ignores the EPN it may lead to additional costs that could have been avoided.
The Pensions Regulator's Press Release for the First Quarter of 2016 shows the headline figures below and can be found at http://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/doc-library/research-analysis.aspx#s16191
• 3,057 Compliance Notices issued - totalling 7,834 to date
• 806 Fixed Penalty Notices issued - totalling 2,234 from 2012 to date
• 96 Escalating Penalty Notices issued this quarter - totalling 127 to date
Apr 2016
13
BrightPay is back again at Accountex, 2016. Accountex attracts delegates from the accounting, bookkeeping and financial industry. It is the biggest conference of it’s kind in the UK and BrightPay are delighted to be a part of such an amazing show. Accountex is a free event where delegates benefit from two days of seminars, workshops and networking opportunities. Delegates can even earn free CPD points. What’s not to like? Register here for free tickets.
This year, BrightPay has an even bigger and better stand. The BrightPay team will be conducting one to one live demos where we will be showcasing our payroll, auto enrolment and latest features. BrightPay is a feature packed payroll software tool that offers automatic enrolment functionality included in our licence. There’s no need to fork out extra money for AE modules or add on’s. Save your business money today with BrightPay.
New features for 2016 include the NEST web services / API integration, pre-assessment and post-assessment client reporting, CIS processing, payrolling of benefits, P11D’s, specific import from HMRC’s Basic PAYE Tools and more. Read: What’s new in BrightPay 16/17.
The team will be on hand to answer any questions you have about BrightPay. Live demos will take you through the auto enrolment process, where we enter in a staging date, automatically assess each employee, create and send employee letters, set up a pension scheme and deduct pension contributions and more. BrightPay allows users to prepare enrolment and contribution csv files for upload to 15 pension providers each pay period. View BrightPay’s automatic enrolment features.
With BrightPay, the future is BRIGHT!! For bureaus, BrightPay includes unlimited employees, unlimited employers, automatic enrolment functionality and email & phone support for £199 + VAT / tax year!! This year, exclusively at Accountex NEW customers can avail of 25% off BrightPay 16/17 on the 11th and 12th May only. This Accountex offer is for new customers only for the first year subscription.
Stand number: A520
Copyright © 2024 Thesaurus Software Ltd T/A Bright Software Group.
3 Shortlands, Hammersmith, London, W6 8DA
hellobrightpayuk@brightsg.com 0345 9390019