Before your staging date
By now you will probably have received a letter from The Pensions Regulator, informing you of your staging date and providing you with a letter code.
You should receive your first letter from The Pensions Regulator about a year before your staging date, and a reminder about three months before.
Do not ignore this.
By the time your staging date arrives you should have in place a qualifying pension scheme and have informed all your staff that they will be assessed.
On your staging date
You will need to assess all your staff in the first payroll after your staging date to determine if they are going to be automatically enrolled into your new pension scheme.
Employees who are enrolled will have the right to opt-out. Employees who are not automatically enrolled will have the right to opt-in.
It is up to you to ensure that your staff know their rights and their options, and then you must act on them accordingly
After your staging date
Once you have completed your initial assessment you need to continue to assess your staff every time you run your payroll. This is not something that only happens once. You will have to do it every month and make sure the correct amounts are deducted from their salaries and paid into the pension scheme.
If you don’t keep up with your new duties as an employer you will be in breach of the legislation and could be fined by The Pensions Regulator, starting with a fixed penalty of £400 and daily increases beginning at £50 each day.
If you want to spend your time on your business call us on 020 8559 2111.