Open Meeting

The St Austell Bay Chamber of Commerce are holding an Open Meeting on Tuesday October 13th at 6pm, at the Gurkha restaurant, Biddicks Court, St Austell.

Many of you may now have received initial letters from The Pensions 

Regulator on the subject of auto enrolment and are now beginning to seek
advice.

Ian Chalmers from Phillips Frith LLP has invited a Speaker to our next
Open Meeting on Tuesday 13th October to come and speak for 10-15 mins
about this scheme, and then answer any questions that you may have.
This scheme is something that all businesses will have to provide by
law, so why not come along for some FREE advice.

I have attached a help sheet offering advice about auto enrolment, but
if you have any questions, or would like to hear more then please attend
the Open Meeting.  It is open to members and non members so please bring
along a friend if you know they are looking for advice too.

After the meeting we invite you to stay for a lovely Curry Dinner
prepared by the team at The Gurkha.  The cost for the dinner is £10,
with £4 going to the Chambers nominated charities. Please click on the
link to pay.  http://www.staustellchamber.co.uk/pay/8/f8a7fd6e98102fc0

HELPSHEET FOR PENSION AUTO ENROLMENT

1. Every business which has employees has a legal obligation to establish a pension scheme and to operate this from their staging date – if you do not know which date applies to you please ask us – there are many different dates spread over the next two years.

2. With effect from the staging date you will need to deduct pension contributions from your employees and pay these together with the employees contributions to the pension provider.

3. Contributions will be required at pre-determined minimum levels as follows:-

*Qualifying earnings are earnings between the lower and the upper earnings limit for national insurance purposes.

4. All employees will fall into one of three categories as follows:

                            ELIGIBLE WORKERS – who must be enrolled in your pension scheme.

                            NON ELIGIBLE WORKERS – who have a right to opt in to your scheme.

                            ENTITLED WORKERS – who have a right to join your scheme.

5.  The rules are a little more complicated as employees have a right to opt out of your pension scheme but you must not influence them in their decision.  Furthermore you will need to keep records where this happens and ensure that such employees are re enrolled every three years.

6. It is the responsibility of the employer to choose a suitable qualifying automatic enrolment scheme which must contain no restrictions on admission and which meets all legislative requirements.  It is possible to use an existing occupational scheme for auto enrolment but this would need to be reviewed to establish whether any changes are required for the scheme to count as a qualifying scheme.  Again we can direct you to someone who can help you with your choice of scheme.

7. There are complicated rules to determine when a new employee must be auto enrolled and when to make decisions and pay these over.  Some employees will choose to simplify arrangements by enrolling all new employees into their scheme under their contracts of employment from the day they start work whether or not they qualify as eligible job holders.  This approach lessons the obligations on an employer mainly by removing the need to assess the new workers auto enrolment status and the statutory requirement to provide information about the scheme does not apply to job holders who have been contractually enrolled. 

8. There is an ongoing obligation once a worker has been auto enrolled to make sure the employer does not take steps which would prejudice this situation. This is particularly to deal with business restructuring.

9. Some of the most onerous requirements for employers are in respect of the need to provide information both to the scheme members and the scheme operators.  Once again the choice of scheme provider will be very important in this regard.

          It is also likely that contracts of employment will need to be reviewed and updated to deal with the new legislative                   requirements.

    10. Similarly there are extensive record keeping requirements for employers and as before the choice of scheme provider             and software used is likely to have a bearing on how onerous this is.

FURTHER HELP AND INFORMATION

1. It is the case that a company whose only employees are its directors none of whom have an employment contract can make a statement to the Pensions regulator to confirm that it is not an employer for the purposes of automatic enrolment.  Please ask us for help with this.

2. You will need to know which qualifying schemes are available to you and to understand the pros and cons of each.  We cannot give advice on this but can refer you to someone who will.

3. For every other aspect of how auto enrolment will affect you and your employees, to have specific questions answered or to discuss how Phillps Frith can deal with your payroll obligations for you please give us a call.

          Phillips Frith LLP