Apr 2016
7
BrightPay at the TaxAssist Conference
BrightPay are delighted to be exhibiting at this year’s TaxAssist Conference. The annual conference will be held at the Celtic Manor Resort in Newport, Wales and will see almost 350 delegates partake in a day of seminars, business, networking and entertainment.
The day will kick off with an exhibition in the morning showcasing 40 exhibitors, including BrightPay. After a buffet lunch, delegates will benefit from presentations by Tax Assist Directors and table discussions with key partners of the franchise.
As a preferred payroll supplier to TaxAssist Accountants, BrightPay’s Managing Director Paul Byrne will hold one of the table discussions. Paul will discuss ‘A Simple Strategy to Automate Auto Enrolment’ which will outline how accountants can automate AE to improve profitability.
BrightPay payroll and auto enrolment software enables accountants to streamline auto enrolment tasks, improving efficiency and profitability. Visit BrightPay’s stand to avail of a demo of the software.
BrightPay’s bureau licence includes unlimited employers, unlimited employees, free support and full auto enrolment functionality. BrightPay 2016/17 includes a number of new features, including integrated CIS & P11D functionality – find out more here.
Read: What happens if you don't comply with automatic enrolment?
Apr 2016
4
What happens if you don't comply with automatic enrolment?
There are a number of duties that employers need to undertake to comply with automatic enrolment. Even if there are no eligible job holders, certain steps need to be followed. The responsibility of auto enrolment does rest with the individual employer. If an employer fails to comply the Pensions Regulator (TPR) will take action. They may issue you with a notice or penalty.
TPR will enforce penalties if the employer chooses to ignore their automatic enrolment duties. The enforcement action starts with statutory notices being issued to the employer. This is then followed by penalty notices and further non-compliance may lead to court action. TPR does want to work with employers to make sure they understand their employer duties.
In certain circumstances, where the employer genuinely did not understand their duties or due to unforeseen circumstances have not been able to comply, TPR will work with the employer to ensure compliance. However, those who do not carry out the AE duties in accordance with the law will face enforcement action and penalties.
Enforcement Action
The Pensions Regulator will investigate willful and non-willful non-compliance. They are within their rights to carry out inspections and request certain information from employers. TPR will enforce non-compliance in a number of ways:
• Informal action: TPR will correspond with the employer to issue guidance and help by telephone, email, letter and in person. The employer may be issued with a warning letter giving them a specific amount of time to become compliant with their AE duties.
• Statutory notice: TPR can issue statutory notices informing the employer that they must comply with their AE duties. The employer could also be directed to pay any contributions they have missed or were late in paying. TPR does then have the authority to estimate and charge interest on unpaid contributions which the employer must pay in addition to the missed contribution payments.
• Penalty notice: TPR has further authority to issue employers with penalty notices penalising deliberate and intentional non-compliance. If an employer fails to comply with instructions as per their statutory notice or if the employer deliberately breaks the law then a fixed penalty will be issued. The penalty notice is fixed at £400 to be paid within a certain time period.
• Escalating penalty notice: TPR can issue the employer with an escalating penalty notice for failing to comply with a statutory notice. If the employer receives this penalty notice they will be penalized with a daily rate of between £50 and £10,000. The value of the penalty depends on the number of employees an employer has.
• Civil penalty notice: TPR can issue a civil penalty notice when an employer fails to pay the contributions that are outstanding. If the employer receives this notice there are heavy penalties of up to £5,000 for individuals and up to £50,000 for organisations.
• Prohibited recruitment conduct penalty notice: Employers can be issued with a prohibited recruitment conduct penalty notice when an employer fails to comply with a compliance notice or if it is evidence of a breach. Depending on the number of employees, the penalty has a rate ranging from £1,000 to £5,000. TPR aims to fully recover all penalties that are issued.
Receiving a penalty notice
Employers can pay their penalties using TPR's online payment service. Employers will need their penalty notice reference which is located on the front of the notice. It will be important to pay the penalty by the date displayed on the penalty notice. Failure to pay will result in the Regulator bringing formal legal proceedings against the employer to recover the penalty amounts. Failure to comply and pay penalties could result in criminal prosecution.
Legal Proceedings
TPR has the right to take civil action through the courts to recover penalties against employers. If the employer intentionally and willfully fails to comply with their auto enrolment duties, they may be prosecuted. TPR also has the right to confiscate goods where there is a criminal conviction and restrain assets during criminal investigations.
How to appeal
TPR allows employers to apply for a review if they have been issued with a notice. Employers must submit an application with supporting evidence within 28 days of the notice being issued. The Regulator will then inform the employer when a decision can be expected.
Employers can apply for a review once they receive any of the following notices or penalties; compliance notice; unpaid contributions notice; third party compliance notice; fixed penalty notice; escalating penalty notice; prohibited recruitment compliance notice or prohibited recruitment penalty notice. You can apply for a review online, by post, by telephone or in person. Visit TPR website for more info.
Avoid Penalties & Fines
Make sure you are prepared for your automatic enrolment duties. The Pensions Regulator advises employers and payroll bureaus to utilise payroll software that can cater and automate auto enrolment duties. It would be advisable to check that your current payroll system is compatible with your chosen pension scheme.
Book a demo with BrightPay to see just how easy and straightforward auto enrolment can be. A quick 15/20 minute demo will show you how we enter in a staging date, assess each employee, send employee letters, set up a pension scheme and deduct pension contributions. Our latest feature allows payroll you to create a pre-assessment overview of AE before the staging date is reached. View a full list of BrightPay's auto enrolment features.
Mar 2016
3
HMRC's Basic PAYE Tools (BPT) users & Auto Enrolment - Facing your Fear
HMRC's BPT users may be unprepared for auto enrolment as HMRC's payroll tool is basic and cumbersome. Not only is the tool cumbersome - it does not produce payslips leaving the employee without full visibility to payroll and pension deductions.
The Pension Regulator (TPR) recently consulted payroll industry experts, payroll software companies and users of Basic PAYE Tools to see how these users would face their automatic enrolment journey. TPR's consultation examined the current issues of automatic enrolment as well as the lack of functionality for BPT customers to successfully process the employer duties. Basic PAYE Tools lacks automation and functionality to process AE employer duties.
After the consultation The Pensions Regulator concluded that they will provide an Auto Enrolment toolkit for BPT users, but confirmed the tool will be primitive and manual.
Without payroll software tools that cater for auto enrolment duties, users of the TPR's AE toolkit will be in danger of miscalculating contributions. There is also an inherent risk of incorrectly assessing employees who might otherwise be eligible jobholders.
A high proportion of BPT users have said that they will avoid free or low cost commercial software as they are afraid to change. It is natural for these employers to be afraid but they should be aware that they will face penalties and fines if they process automatic enrolment incorrectly. TPR's consultation report explains;
"Current users stated they would be unlikely to stop using the BPT due to a mix of inertia, brand loyalty and the burden associated with switching to an alternative payroll product with built-in automatic enrolment support."
If these users continue to use HMRC’s Basic PAYE Tools, it will leave them with the limited option of the TPR's AE toolkit. TPR also recognises that existing free and paid payroll software is available on the market offering auto enrolment functionality.
The Regulator concluded that BPT users have three options;
- Utilise existing free or low cost commercial software to comply with auto enrolment.
- Use third party (non payroll) providers such as pension providers that offers assessment.
- Use TPR's AE toolkit.
The Regulator continues to recommend that BPT users avail of existing payroll solutions on the market explaining;
"Our tool will mitigate the risk, while being basic enough to not discourage employers from using commercial payroll products."
If TPR's AE toolkit is used, users will need to ensure everything is accurate in line with automatic enrolment, employers will need manually double and triple check all their calculations. Even then, simple errors may have occurred. These errors will also take time to locate and fix.
If BPT users want their information to be correct, they should face their fear and utilise payroll software that is available on the market. If BPT users also want their automatic enrolment process to be streamlined and easy they will need to choose payroll software that can automate the employer duties for them.
BrightPay helps BPT users comply with Automatic Enrolment
An important factor for HMRC customers is time. BPT users are concerned that migrating to another payroll tool will be difficult and time consuming. BrightPay has made this step easy. We have developed a free and easy import feature from HMRC's Basic PAYE Tools into BrightPay, a task which takes less than one minute to complete.
This HMRC specific import tool allows users of Basic PAYE Tools to export their employee data file and import directly into BrightPay. The import facility has been specially designed to recognise information such as company and employee details and cumulative payroll data. Once the import has been completed, users will then be able to open their company file and immediately start processing payroll.
BrightPay offers a free licence for employers with up to three employees. Our standard employer licence is just £89 + VAT / tax year which includes unlimited employees. All of BrightPay's licences have free auto enrolment functionality plus free phone and email support. You can try before you buy too. BrightPay's free 60 day trial offers full functionality and we won't ask you for any credit card details.
Related articles:
- HMRC Basic PAYE Tools users to get Automatic Enrolment tool from TPR
- HMRC users & Auto Enrolment: Manual vs. Automation
- 10 key reasons to move from HMRC Basic PAYE Tools to BrightPay
- TPR introduce Auto Enrolment Toolkit for Basic PAYE Tools users
- How useful will The Pensions Regulator Auto Enrolment Toolkit be?
- Limitations of the AE Toolkit for HMRC Basic PAYE Tools users
Feb 2016
19
Automatic Enrolment & Employee Communications
You must write to each staff member after your staging date to tell them how automatic enrolment applies to them and explain their rights. You must let them know that contributions will be deducted from their pay and that they have a right to opt out of your pension scheme if they wish to do so.
- You must write to staff who are being automatically enrolled (eligible jobholders) explaining what you’ve done and providing details of the pension scheme you’ve chosen for them. This communication will also tell them about how the contributions will increase from the basic 1% and 1% to 5% and 3% by 2018 (assuming that you are starting from the minimum base levels).
- You must write to staff who have a right to opt in to an automatic enrolment pension scheme (non-eligible jobholders) explaining how automatic enrolment applies to them.
- You must write to staff who have a right to join a pension scheme (entitled workers) explaining how automatic enrolment applies to them.
This must be done in writing and within six weeks of your staging date.
Communications were simplified somewhat from 6th April 2015 and the same letter is now sent to non-eligible jobholders and entitled workers.
You can choose to postpone automatic enrolment for up to 3 months for some or all of your staff. You must write to your staff to tell them you’re postponing automatic enrolment for them. One of the times you can postpone is at your staging date.
If you are using postponement for all of your staff at staging, to give you more time to prepare, it is often forgotten that a postponement communication must be sent to all of your staff within 6 weeks of your staging date. If this communication is not sent within the required timeframe, then the postponement in null and void and auto enrolment will apply from the staging date.
The postponement communication will let your staff know that they will be enrolled on a particular date if they meet the relevant criteria. It also gives them the option to be enrolled before the end of the postponement period.
Your payroll software should be able to produce the required employee communications for you. PDF Examples: Eligible Letter | Non-eligible Letter | Entitled Letter
Method of Communicating
It is the employer’s responsibility to give the statutory information to a worker, and to give the information in writing. ‘Giving’ information, in the regulator’s view, includes:
- sending hard copy information by post or internal mail
- handing over hard copy information by hand
- sending information in the body of an email
- sending information in PDF format or other attachments by email.
- ‘Giving’ information does not include merely signposting to an internet or intranet site, attaching a URL or displaying a poster in the workplace.
Who communicates with your staff
Some of the pension schemes prefer to handle some or all of the communications. Your payroll software should allow you to turn off communications reminders in such cases.
Practical tip: Send the employee communications around about the same time as you are submitting your pension file. If you send the communications too early and employees contact the scheme to opt out, the scheme will have no record of the employees and therefore will not be in a position to process their opt-out requests.
How can BrightPay help?
BrightPay have embraced auto enrolment and are providing a number of online resources to bureaus across the UK, including free auto enrolment webinars and guides. Book a demo with our sales team today to find out how BrightPay handles auto enrolment and how it can increase the efficiency of your bureau. You can also try out the software with a 60 day free trial.
Read more about BrightPay’s auto enrolment functionally.
Feb 2016
11
Automatic Enrolment: Are you prepared to deal with this potential increase in business?
Increasing your prices is never very popular with clients and you may even risk losing a small percentage of your client base. If you are a bureau, deciding what to charge for auto enrolment services can be a daunting task. Your client will want to know what they are getting in return for the additional fee, therefore, communication will be fundamental to your success. If you do get your pricing strategy right, your clients will thank you for taking the automatic enrolment duties off their hands.
Download our free AE pricing guide:
CPD Accredited - Auto Enrolment Training for Payroll Bureaus
Did you know that 44% of payroll advisors have already spoken to their clients about automatic enrolment? This year will be significant with over 500,000 employers due to stage. However, some employers still do not know that automatic enrolment applies to them. Others are burying the head in the sand and avoiding AE altogether. Find out what you need to know on BrightPay’s Auto Enrolment online training session. This training has been CPD accredited and advisors receive two CPD hours by attending.
Guest Speaker - The Pensions Regulator
Have you got a burning question for the Pensions Regulator (TPR) ?? BrightPay is delighted to announce that Neil Wilson from TPR will join us on the webinar. Neil will cover the employer duties that payroll bureaus need to be aware of along with what lesson TPR has learned since AE was launched. HE will also discuss the AE what payroll services you could offer as a bureau. Neil will cover what you need know in relation offering your services and the law.
Get in touch today to see how BrightPay can help you prepare for automatic enrolment. New customers can now get a free BrightPay 2015/16 plus 25% off 2016/17 bureau licence when you switch from a different payroll software provider.*
Book a demo with our sales team today to find out how BrightPay handles auto enrolment and how it can increase the efficiency of your bureau. You can also try out the software with a 60 day free trial.
Dec 2015
14
10 key reasons to move from HMRC Basic PAYE Tools to BrightPay
1. BrightPay is HMRC recognised
2. RTI is fully automated
3. BrightPay will automatically import your HMRC Basic PAYE Tools data
4. BrightPay will handle all auto enrolment tasks (at no extra cost)
5. BrightPay includes the NEST API, meaning the upload of auto enrolment data is automated
6. BrightPay will perform a pre staging assessment of your workforce to establish how much auto enrolment is going to cost and to determine if you need to register with a pension scheme
7. Payslips can be emailed to employees and will contain details of any pension deductions
8. You can use postponement, giving you more time to get a pension scheme in place
9. BrightPay is free for up to 3 employee records or £89 plus VAT per annum for a single employer with unlimited employees
10. Support is included in this price
This list is not exhaustive and only covers the key points.
Dec 2015
9
Auto enrolment - Autumn statement changes affecting minimum contribution schemes
The Government has announced plans to adjust, by about 6 months, the date on which the minimum pension contribution levels increase.
Phase 2 (when the minimum contributions increase to 3% employee and 2% employer) was scheduled for 1st October 2017 and phase 3 (when they increase to 5% employee and 3% employer) was scheduled for 1st October 2018.
Phase 2 will now start on 6 April 2018† and phase 3 will start on 6 April 2019† (†subject to parliamentary approval). This is not a delay to the roll out of automatic enrolment, but a measure to give all employers, and smaller employers in particular, more time to prepare for the increases and to reduce the administrative burden by aligning the changes with the start of each tax year.
This change will also make it considerably easier for payroll software to deal with the uplifts as they are now aligned to payroll years.
Dec 2015
3
Rise in auto-enrolment compliance notices issued by TPR
Figures from The Pensions Regulator (TPR) show 469 auto-enrolment compliance notices were issued to employers between July and September 2015.
A compliance notice is issued under section 35 of the Pensions Act 2008 to remedy a contravention of one or more auto-enrolment employer duty provision
The latest number is almost quadruple that for the previous quarter. In addition, during the last quarter TPR issued 85 unpaid contributions notices, 107 fixed penalty notices of £400, and two escalating penalty notices carrying a daily fine of between £50 and £10,000 – bringing the total of escalating penalty notices issued to seven.
Full article www.payrollworld.com
Sep 2015
19
Young adults planning early for retirement
The launch of automatic enrolment into workplace pensions in 2012 is being hailed as helping to develop a greater pension savings culture across the UK.
A new study carried out by charity The National Skills Academy for Financial Services (NSAFS) and AXA Investment Managers, has found that today’s young adults in the UK are likely to start thinking about their retirement plans at the age of 27, compared to their parent’s generation who on average did not start thinking about life after work until the age of 41.
Similarly, research conducted by NEST in 2014 also found that people aged under 30 were embracing automatic enrolment more than any other age group, with just one in every 20 workers aged between 22 and 29 choosing to opt out of their workplace pension scheme.
Stephanie Condra, market strategist at AXA Investment Managers, said: “It’s never too early or too late to get ready for retirement.”
Approximately five million people have so far been placed in a workplace pension, and there are around another five million still to be placed in a scheme as auto-enrolment continues to be rolled out across employers.
Aug 2015
14
HMRC Basic PAYE Tools users to get Automatic Enrolment tool from TPR
The tool to be provided by the Pensions Regulator for HMRC Basic PAYE Tools (BPT) users will only handle qualifying earnings schemes. It will not do communications nor will it prepare files for the pension companies. It will be an Excel spreadsheet which will need to be populated each pay period so that assessments and calculations can be performed. The results will then need to be input back into BPT. Then the BPT user will need to log in to the pension scheme's web portal and manually input the figures. There will be extra time required in this process and there will be potential for error.
This combined with the fact that HMRC Basic PAYE Tools does not prepare payslips means that the proposition for commercially available fully integrated payroll and auto enrolment software is much stronger.
BrightPay costs £89 (plus VAT) per annum* and will automatically import the file from HMRC Basic PAYE Tools meaning there is no time involved in setting up.
In addition, BrightPay will include the NEST API before January 2016 meaning NEST registered employers will not even need to log in to the NEST portal when submitting the contribution file each pay period.
* Single employer, unlimited employees. BrightPay is free for employers with 3 or less employees.
