Karen Green, owner of WinstoneGreen Accountancy in Winterbourne, talks you through the new legislation.
A new law has come into play which means that every employer with at least one member of staff must automatically enrol workers into a workplace pension scheme if they:
- are aged between 22 and State Pension age
- earn more than £10,600 a year
- work in the UK
This is called ‘automatic enrolment’.
What employers need to do
1. Know your staging date
This is when you’re duty bound to start the pension scheme, so you need to be ready. Find yours here.
2. Register with The Pensions Regulator
You need to register within four months of your staging date – it’s very easy. Just go to the Government Gateway with your Government Gateway User ID.
3. Give a point of contact
The Pensions Regulator will write to you asking for the contact details of the most senior person or business owner. You can also nominate a secondary contact, like an accountant.
4. Tell your staff
You’ll need to write to each of your workers who are eligible for the scheme explaining what automatic enrolment into a workplace pension means for them.
5. Review your pension arrangements
You might have an existing scheme you can use or adapt for automatic enrolment – or you may need to set up a new one.
Need help?
We can set up a basic nest pension scheme for you. It’s a simple solution that will make you compliant with the law.
Although you have to offer automatic enrolment to your employees, they can opt out for three years, if they wish. This is something we can help you with too.
If you’d like to talk through your options, please call us on 01454 778968 or 07834 772792.
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