Archive for the ‘NEST’ Category
If you haven’t started your pension project – start here!
We don’t need to remind you that the biggest pension change in a generation is almost upon us. The biggest employers in the UK have to start enrolling all their employees in a pension from October.
The supermarkets are probably the biggest employers in this group. So from October there’s a good chance that the checkout lady that asks you if you want help with your packing will have automatically joined the pension scheme.
Smaller employers have a bit more time. On the fact it many will have a couple of years or so to comply. But in real terms it’s only two year ends and two pay reviews. Time soon passes.
If you haven’t worked out when you have to comply then you really need to start looking at it now. The first stage is to work out how many employees you have as that dictates when you need to comply.
There’s plenty of guidance on The Pensions Regulator’s web site. You can get to it by clicking here. 
The all round good eggs at the law firm DLA Piper have also published the first in a series of updates on the new pension rules. The first one is all about assessing exactly who your workforce are for the new rules. You can read the update by clicking here.
If you’re ready to start your project and you need some guidance and support 44 Financial would be delighted to help. You can contact us here to arrange an initial consultation – at our expense.
Steve Clark
Director
Related articles
Pension reforms – a five point action plan for employers
Although many employers have heard the new radio ads publicising the new pension rules they no idea what they’ll have to do to comply. The rules change (albeit for only the largest employers) from October.
Most employers will be hit by the new rules from 2014 onwards. Don’t sit back in your chair and put this in the “far too difficult” pile as, in some cases, this is less that 20 payroll dates.
The worrying thing is that The Pensions Regulator will police your compliance with these new duties. The Regulator can also issue substantial penalty notices to employers. If you fail to comply it could also amount to a criminal offence.
That’s enough of the doom and gloom. What can you do in a positive way to make sure The Pensions Regulator doesn’t come knocking on your door?
We’ve come up with a 5 point plan to help you survive the new rules. So – what do you need to do?
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Find out how your workforce will be affected – as well as your employees, you may also need to consider contractors, agency staff and non-executive directors.
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Find out your “staging date” and put a big red ring round this date on the calendar. This is when the new rules will apply to you.
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Work out what it’s all going to cost. This means not only the extra pension contributions you’ll have to make but also the internal costs of staff time, systems upgrades etc. Don’t worry there may be ways to reduce costs. We have a few tricks up our sleeve!
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Make sure someone “owns” the project– it won’t go away. You’ll need someone internally or externally to co-ordinate across several areas including HR, Benefits and Payroll.
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Decide whether to use an existing pension plan, a new one, or the government scheme which is called NEST.
That’s probably enough to be getting on with. Please don’t wait to the last minute to look at this as you may run out of time. If it’s going to cost you money you will need to factor this into your business plan over the next three to five years. You may also need to take this into account when looking at annual pay reviews for your employees this year and next.
We’re working with all our clients to make sure that they know what they have to do, the options and ways to reduce costs. If you’d like us to help you with your Pension Survival Plan please contact us here.
Steve Clark
Related articles
- New guidance on workplace pension reform (44financial.co.uk)
- Charities – the ticking pension time bomb (44financial.co.uk)
Employment Law–What happens when?
If you are involved in the HR function for your organisation – whether directly or indirectly, you’ll know that the pace of legislation and regulation is relentless.
We are therefore indebted to Innes Cark (no relation!) of Morton Fraser for the following information that was published in their February Employment E-bulletin. You can click through to the publication by clicking this link. So in terms of employment law this is how 2012 and beyond is shaping up.
6 April 2012
- Increase to Qualifying Period for Unfair Dismissal (but only for employees commencing employment on or after 6 April 2012)
- Subject to parliamentary approval, various Employment Tribunal reforms come into effect. These are:
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Witness statements being taken as read unless Employment Judge directs otherwise (this will not apply in Scotland where witness statements are not normally used);
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Removal of witness expenses;
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Judges sitting alone in unfair dismissal cases unless Employment Judge directs otherwise; and
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Changes to limits for cost awards that a Tribunal can make (increase from £10,000 to £20,000) and deposit orders (increase from £500 to £1,000).
Other Employment Tribunal reforms, which are to be implemented by way of primary legislation, will come into effect at a later date. These will include reforms relating to early conciliation, financial penalties for employers who lose Tribunal claims, judges sitting alone in the Employment Appeal Tribunal and the formula for up-rating Tribunal awards.
1 & 6 April 2012
- Flat rate for statutory maternity, paternity, additional paternity and adoption pay increases to £135.45 (applicable for complete pay weeks commencing on or after 1 April for employees earning £107 or more per week).
- Statutory sick pay increases to £85.85 (6 April 2012).
1 October 2012
- Pension auto-enrolment to be implemented (note that the duties upon employers come into effect in stages and initially only very large organisations will have to auto-enrol their eligible jobholders).
- Likely increase to National Minimum Wage rate. There has been no formal announcement to this effect as yet, however this would be in keeping with the position in previous years.
March 2013
New guidance on workplace pension reform
The Pensions Regulator has today published an updated version of its detailed guidance on automatic enrolment and the new employer duties under pensions reform, for large employers and their advisers.
The detailed guidance, which forms part of the regulator’s suite of educational materials for all UK employers, has been updated to reflect recent legislative changes including the Pensions Act 2011 receiving official approval via Royal Assent.
Click this link to go to the Regulator’s website for more information.
Pensions in 2012–A Summary
Well 2012 has got off to a great start here at 44 Financial. We’re working with a number of individual clients on their retirement options as well as three different new corporate tenders. What a fantastic start to the Olympic year!
Conscious as ever that there is so much going on in the pensions world we always try to look out for great articles and documents that will help our clients and blog subscribers to keep up to date. Sometimes its just enough to know what’s going on at a general level so you can decide how much you need to delve into the detail.
To that end we are grateful to those legal types at SNR Denton for their Pensions 2012 article. You can click through to the article here.
As a list to know what you should be keeping an eye on it’s great. There’s brief sections on Auto-enrolment, the abolition of contracting out, gender pricing of annuities.
We hope that you find this useful. As ever if you would like to look at the implications of any of this for your own arrangements please contact us. You can click here to complete our enquiry form.
We’d love to hear from you.
Steve Clark