Employers need to enrol many of their employees into a work-based pension scheme and pay some pension contributions. All employers must provide a workplace pension for eligible staff by 2018; it’s what’s known as “auto enrolment”. As an employer, you must enrol all staff who earn more than £10,000 a year, work in the UK, and are aged between 22 and the state pension age. So, if your employees meet these criteria and you don’t have a workplace pension in place for them already, you’ll need to set one up and soon.
Setting up a workplace pension
The date you’ll need to start enrolling people will depend on the number of employees you have. Setting up a workplace pension is a complex affair, and you want to make sure it’s done properly, so you can be certain you’re meeting your obligations as an employer.
If you’re not sure where the land lies in respect of your employees, we can advise you when you’ll need to have everything in place for them and how to go about doing so. There’s still time, and we can help ensure you have everything in place to meet the statutory pension requirements.
Your existing workplace pensions
If you have an existing workplace pension for your employees, but you’re not sure if it meets the criteria for the auto enrolment scheme, we can advise you on the intricacies of the scheme. We’ll know what amendments if any; you’ll need to make to your existing pension scheme. So, you can move forward with confidence knowing you’re meeting your legal obligations.
Workplace pension contributions
As part of your auto enrolment pension scheme, you must pay a minimum of 1% of your employee’s “qualifying earnings” into the scheme. However, this percentage may increase in future years if approved by Parliament. To stay abreast of any changes to the requirements of the auto enrolment scheme and what are deemed “qualifying earnings”; engage our skilled accountancy team today.
Your smooth-running pension schemes
The regulations outlining auto enrolment pensions specify that the contributions must be paid into the scheme by a particular date each month. Remember, the Pensions Regulator could impose a fine if you don’t have an auto enrolment scheme in place on time and if it’s not running as it should. However, our skilled accountants can assist you, ensuring everything is ship shape and running on time – so you don’t need to be concerned about the day to day mechanics of running the scheme.
Failure to comply could result in a fine from The Pensions Regulator. So don’t get caught out find out how we are helping employers meet their auto enrolment responsibilities. Planning ahead and setting up a pension for your staff couldn’t be easier and the scheme can be activated when you are ready do so – at your Staging Date or when you intend to recruit new employees into your business.
At PK Accounting Service we can administrate your workplace pension scheme and help you and your business stay compliant.
For a free initial meeting to discuss all your workplace pension related needs, please drop us a line using our Online Quick Quote Form
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