Archive for the ‘NEST’ Category
Employers struggle to achieve 2014 auto-enrolment
Less than 1 in 4 employers staging for auto-enrolment in the first half of 2014 have confirmed their provider and completed everything necessary to be ready to comply. This is according to a report issued by NEST the pension scheme of last resort for auto enrolment.
An article in Pension Expert magazine helps to underline the logistics of what UK employers are facing. This year over 25,000 employers are expected to reach their staging date. If you click here you can read the article. That’s the date upon which you have to comply with the new rules.
Although you can postpone your staging date for up to three months it still means that you have to have everything in place ready to go by the earlier staging date.
As if this wasn’t bad enough news the pensions industry is already hinting that from advisers through to providers it will be very challenging to support all these employers.
This is something that we can echo in our own business. We are currently running six projects for clients who stage this year and are about to take on another two. If there’s any advice that we can give employers it is – don’t sit on the letter from The Pension Regulator telling you when you need to comply. This isn’t something that you can easily do yourself in a month or so. We had a call last week from an employer who has to comply from 1 February who hadn’t done anything about auto-enrolment. Reluctantly we had to turn the employer away as there was no way we could get everything in place in such a short time without jeopardising the service our existing clients receive.
Our experience, which is backed by the views of The Pensions Regulator, is that ideally you would have between a year and eighteen months to complete the project. The last thing you want to be doing is having to make decisions under ti
me pressure.
The Pensions Regulator knows – from your PAYE records with the tax man – when you have to comply. They will write to you about a year to eighteen months before your date. They know that within four months of that date you must go on-line on their website and complete the registration of your auto-enrolment scheme. They will start to write to you about that nearer the time. If you do nothing or are late The Pensions Regulator will know. They have the power to fine you. If you click here you can read more about how The Pensions Regulator will deal with non-compliance.
All is not lost though
As long as you have a reasonable time left we can still help. We offer a fully managed project that will make sure that you are fully compliant that deals with provider selection, assessment processes and software, communications, registration and governance.
Alternatively, we are working with some smaller employers on a more light touch basis where we effectively coach them on delivering their own project. At a time when money is tight form many employers this can be a good way of getting some advice to help you comply.
If you want to kick start your auto-enrolment project and get moving call us on 01163 800 133.
Steve Clark
Auto Enrolment– Unexpected stats on opt-outs
Never ones to rest on their gold plated laurels those busy 
bees at the Department for Work and Pensions have been busy putting together their latest report on automatic enrolment into workplace pension schemes.
The Automatic Enrolment Evaluation Report 2013 shows the breakdown, by different factors, of private sector employees eligible for automatic enrolment savings into a workplace pensions.
The report breaks down the data by industry, employer size earnings and age. The key points from the results are:
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There is certainly a buzz in the energy sector where those employed in the Energy and Water industry have the highest participation rate at 63% in 2012.
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It’s taking longer to sow the seeds and hook new savers in the Agriculture and Fishing industry with a participation rate of just 18%.
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Employers with between 250 and 4,999 employees have the highest participation rate at 53%
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Those earnings over £40,000 have the highest participation rate at 74%.
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Understandably, those earning less than £10,000 have a 32% rate.
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In terms of age employees aged between 22 and 29 have the lowest levels of participation at 24% compared to those aged 40 to 49 and 50 to 64 which have a rate of 50%.
From a personal viewpoint I’m surprised that the opt-out rate has been so low. It’ll be interesting to see how this figure moves as smaller and smaller employers come under the new rules. My suspicion at the moment is that inertia is propping up the figures. In other words, people are just not capable of getting around to getting the opt-out notice, completing it and getting it back to their employer within a month.
As time goes on I suspect that the coffee tables of the nation will harbour more than a few opt-out notices whose destiny is to keep last Christmas’s Radio Times company! But then perhaps I am just an old cynic.
Whether those modest pension savings will ever be enough to live on is a completely different matter.
Steve Clark
Everything you need to know about pensions
Thanks to the legal bods at DLA Piper for putting together their excellent Pensions News publication.
The October 2013 version just landed. It’s got everything in there you could possibly need (or want) to know. From Auto Enrolment to Pension Liberation and updates of what has been happening with The Pensions Regulator, HMRC, DWP and The Treasury it’s got something for everyone.
If you’ve got any involvement in your organisation’s pension planning there is something in there for you. If you read nothing else this month – read this!
Click here for to go to Pensions News.
Steve Clark
Don’t you just love it when……….
Someone does something that saves you a tremendous amount of time.
Well this month’s “Don’t you just love it….” award goes to those legal bods over at DLA Piper for their latest edition of Pensions News.
It’s got all the latest stuff on Auto-Enrolment, The Pensions Regulator, Pension Protection Fund, changes in legislation and so much more. And yet you can have all access to this in the time that you take to drink a nice cup of Nambarrie tea – Northern Ireland’s finest.
If all this suspense is too much click this link to get your pensions fix – courtesy of DLA Piper.
Steve Clark
Changes to auto-enrolment rules?
The Government is consulting on changes to the auto-enrolment regulations.
Fear not, there are no big changes. The Government is just responding to
issues identified in feedback received since some of the largest employers began enrolling employees last year.
The changes include
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Making it easier for employers to use existing payroll processes to determine whether workers need to be auto-enrolled and for assessing whether existing schemes are qualifying schemes.
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Turning off the employer duty to auto-enrol where a worker has recently opted out of pension saving before they were automatically enrolled (e.g. where an employer makes joining the pension scheme a condition of the contract of employment).
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Confirming that opt-out notices need not be identical to the form specified in regulations.
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Extending the joining window deadline from one month to six weeks.
The Government is looking to make these changes in April 2014. As always…….watch this space.
Steve Clark