Group Pension Policy

A group personal pension plan (GPP) is a collection of personal pension plans (PPPs) provided by an employer for its employees.

It is essentially an investment policy that provides an income in retirement.  It is available to any UK resident who is under 75 years of age and can be bought from insurance companies, high street banks, investment organisations and some retailers (i.e. supermarkets and high street shops).

The policyholder contributes to the plan, the money is invested and a fund is built up. The amount of pension payable when the policyholder retires is dependent upon:

• the amount of money paid into the scheme;
• how well the investment funds perform; and
• the 'annuity rate' at the date of retirement. An annuity rate is the factor used to convert the 'pot of money' into a pension.

The policyholder can retire at any age after age 55 (subject to plan restrictions). When the policyholder does retire, they can generally take up to 25% of the value of their fund as a tax-free lump sum. The remainder of the fund can be used to buy an annuity with an insurance company.

What distinguishes a GPP from an individual personal pension plan (PPP) is that the charges levied by the provider under the GPP may be lower than under the equivalent PPP. The provider, because they are dealing with bulk business, may be able to offer a reduction in their normal charges.

Setting up a Group Personal Pension on Bright Pay

To access this utility click “Employer”

1)     Click Add Pension Scheme
         Enter the Name of the policy, (the company that is providing the GPP, enter the reference number provide by the
         pension company. 

2)     Choose Type of Pension
        From the dropdown, select Group personal pension as your pension type.

3)     Reduction
        Where applicable, tick the box to reduce the amount contributed to the GPP by the basic tax rate.
        The pension company will increase the amount contributed to the pension scheme by the basic tax rate.

4)     Enter Contact information
        Click the Contact and Payment tab. Enter the Contact information of the GPP provider.

5)     Enter Payment information
        Chose from the dropdown how you will be paying over the pensions to the GPP provider.
        If you are paying by credit transfer enter your Pension Companies account details in the box provided.
       You will be able to create a BACS files to send to your bank to automatically transfer the pension fund.

Click Save

Applying the Pension Scheme to your Employees

To apply a pension to your employee Go to Payroll > Double click Employee

ENTER A PENSION DEDUCTION BY AMOUNT:

1)    Under Deductions click Add icon

2)    Select Pensions as the deduction.

3)    From the Drop down, select the Group Personal Pension scheme type which has been previously set up.

4)    Enter amount for employee's contribution in the box provided

5)    Enter amount for employer's contribution in the box provided

6)    The total amount entered will be deducted from the employees weekly, fortnightly or monthly Net pay as appropriate.

ENTER A PERCENTAGE PENSION:

1)    Under Deductions click Add icon

2)    Select Pensions as the deduction.

3)    From the Drop down, select the Group Personal Pension scheme type which has been previously set up.

4)    Enter amount for employee's contribution in the box provided

5)    Enter amount for employer's contribution in the box provided

6)    The total amount entered will be deducted from the employees weekly, fortnightly or monthly gross pay as appropriate.

7)    To apply a percentage basis click the drop down (beside the amount) and select %

8)    Enter the % amount in the Box provided.

Pay GPP to the Pension Provider

To access this utility (once payroll has been finalised) go to Payroll > Pay Pensions

1)    This report will show the breakdown of the Pension payments to be paid to your pension company.

2)    To print this report click Print

3)    To export the Pensions report click Export (the report can be copied to excel, CSV, XPS or copied to clipboard.)

4)    You can select to print or view the Pensions report for all, some on one employee, select which employees you
        want to run the report for on the right hand side.

Create a BACS File/ Bank Payment File

A Bank payment file can be created to send to your bank by clicking the Create BACS File button.