Jan 2014
25
Auto enrolment and BrightPay
You have probably heard about automatic enrolment by now. If you don't yet know what it is, or if you need a quick reminder, there is a very helpful guide to automatic enrolment at The Pensions Regulator website.
What is my Staging Date for Automatic Enrolment?
The staging date is when you must automatically enrol your employees into a qualifying pension scheme.
You can find out your staging date at the Pensions Regulator website link given above. If you have less than fifty employees, your staging date will be no earlier than 1st August 2015 (subject to very few exceptions).
If need be, you can postpone your obligations for a further three months from your staging date.
Will BrightPay support Automatic Enrolment?
The Pensions Regulator Automatic Enrolment guide suggests that supporting software should:
- enable you to assess your workforce (existing and new employees), monitor eligibility criteria, and enrol staff into a qualifying pension scheme
- allow the postponement of auto enrolment for relevant employees
- calculate pension contribution amounts
- handle opt-ins and joining
- handle opt-outs and refunds
- support you in generating and issuing communications to your staff
- keep records and provide reports
- interoperate with some or all pension scheme provider systems for information/payment submissions
BrightPay 2014/15 will support all of these requirements. We plan to initially provide interoperability with NEST, and will be working with other providers as time goes on.
If automatic enrolment is not relevant for you in 2014/15, the only changes you will notice in BrightPay are that you may be asked to enter your staging date, and that the completion of the date of birth field will be mandatory for all employees.
Will there be an additional charge for Automatic Enrolment functionality in BrightPay 2014/15?
No. We will continue to offer the same simple pricing model, including free support.
Please keep an eye on our blog for further updates on automatic enrolment and how it works in BrightPay.
If you have any more questions, please call or email us. We are confident that automatic enrolment will be easy with BrightPay.
