5 Steps to Complete Employer Re-Enrolment Duties

The majority of employers will already have a schedule in place for completing their automatic enrolment duties. However, it is important to also take into consideration automatic re-enrolment. Re-enrolment occurs every three years where employers must enrol certain members of staff back into an automatic enrolment pension scheme. This might sound tedious but with the right payroll tools and processes, automatic re-enrolment can be a breeze. In this blog, we will go over five simple steps to follow for re-enrolment in order to stay compliant.

Step 1: Pick a Date

An employer’s re-enrolment date occurs by default on the third anniversary of their automatic enrolment staging date. Fortunately, there is a six month window that employers can choose from, being three months either side of the anniversary of the staging date.

When the chosen date arrives, employers must assess certain members of staff for re-enrolment. Different departments or employees cannot be assessed on different days. Also, postponement cannot be used when it comes to re-enrolment.

As employers can choose their own date for re-enrolment, this can be used as an opportunity to align the re-enrolment date with other important dates, such as the start of their financial year, or as a way to avoid seasonal peaks.

Step 2: Assessing Employees

The employees that must be assessed will meet one of the following criteria:

• They opted out of the pension scheme
• They left the pension scheme after the opt-out period
• They are still enrolled in the pension scheme but have reduced their contributions so it is now below the total minimum level
  
  

There may be certain staff that meet the above criteria but do not need to be assessed if they fall into one of these categories:

• They are already in a qualifying pension scheme
• They are below the age of 22
• They are at or over state pension age
• They have not met the AE earnings criteria
  
  

Where employees meet the age and earnings criteria, there are certain circumstances where the employer can choose whether or not to re-enrol the employee:

• Employees who left the automatic enrolment pension scheme within the 12 months leading up to the re-enrolment date
• Employees who were paid a winding up lump sum in the 12 months leading up to the re-enrolment date, then left the employment and were later re-employed by the same employer
• Employees who have either given notice or been given notice of the end of their employment
• Employees who hold the office of director with the employer
• Employees who are a partner in a Limited Liability Partnership which is the employer, and is not treated for income tax purposes under HMRC’s salaried member rule.
  
  

Step 3: Re-Enrol Employees

Once the employer has determined which employees are eligible for automatic re-enrolment, the next step is to re-enrol these employees into a workplace pension scheme. This must be done within six weeks of the chosen re-enrolment date. Employer and employee contributions must also be paid into the pension scheme.

Step 4: Communicate with Employees

After re-enrolling staff back into an automatic enrolment pension scheme, employers are legally obliged to write to each member of staff informing them that they have been re-enrolled into the pension scheme. The letter must explain that they have been enrolled, explain their right to opt out of the pension scheme and that detail what contributions will be paid into the scheme.

Step 5: Re-declare Compliance

The re-declaration of compliance must be completed within five months of the third anniversary of an employer’s automatic enrolment staging date. The re-enrollment date chosen by the employer does not change the re-declaration deadline.

The re-declaration of compliance is an online form that informs The Pensions Regulator that the employer has met their legal re-enrolment duties. If someone else is helping the employer with their automatic enrolment duties, it is still the employer's legal responsibility to ensure the re-declaration is completed on time and filled in correctly.

Although an employer has five months to complete this re-declaration of compliance, it is recommended that it is completed as soon as possible after the re-enrolment date.

How Software Can Help?

Re-enrolment may seem like a long process that will take up an employer’s valuable time. However, using payroll software that handles the re-enrolment process, such as BrightPay, will greatly reduce the hours required to remain compliant.

After entering the re-enrolment date in BrightPay, the software will automatically assess and flag employees for re-enrolment before the payroll is processed for the pay period. BrightPay will also generate the letters needed for employees that were re-enrolled. By automating the re-enrolment duties, BrightPay will save employers time which can be invested into other important business matters.

Why not try a free 60 day trial to test the full capability of BrightPay? Sign up for a free demo to see just how easy it is to process payroll and auto enrolment using BrightPay.

BrightPay UK - Customer Update

Cyber Security – Keep your payroll data safe against Ransomware

Ransomware is when your files are held for ransom. It is a type of malware that essentially takes over a computer and prevents users from accessing their data until such time as a ransom is paid. Learn more about keeping your payroll data safe.

Read full article here

Managing Annual Leave – How to stave off that annual leave headache

This webinar helps employers make sense of their legal obligations regarding annual leave. Attendees will learn how employers should be calculating holiday pay, how this should be processed on BrightPay, as well as practical guidance on managing annual leave.

Register here

Windows XP Support Discontinued

The technology that BrightPay utilises has been updated and improved. As a result of this improvement, BrightPay will no longer be able to run on Windows XP operating systems. This technological enhancement brings many performance, reliability and security improvements.

Read full article here

Do you need help with your employee contracts?

Our sister product, Bright Contracts enables users to create tailored, professional contracts of employment and staff handbooks. What was once a very expensive and time-consuming process can now be done on your PC.

Request a demo / Find out more

Auto Enrolment: What matters most in 2017?

This year we will see the largest number of employers reaching their auto enrolment staging date. Over 750,000 small and micro employers will need to enrol their eligible jobholders into auto enrolment pension schemes, helping them save for their retirement.

Read full article

Have you tried BrightPay Connect?

BrightPay Connect is an optional cloud and HR add-on which offers an online self service portal for employees, automatic cloud backup, annual leave management, uploading of employee documents (including contracts and handbooks) and much more.

Book a demo / Find out more

Understanding Your Employer Auto Enrolment Ongoing Duties

Auto enrolment is not a one off job and employers need to carry out a number of tasks on an ongoing basis. Automatic enrolment is a continuing responsibility for employers. Employers must complete the following tasks in order to remain fully compliant with the law.

Read article here

Bureaus: Review BrightPay on Accounting Web

Please share your views on BrightPay and you could win a prize. AccountingWEB are offering one lucky winner a £500 Amazon voucher, and 2 runners up with Amazon vouchers worth £250. The survey takes less than 30 seconds.

Start survey here

Posted byRachel HynesinCustomer Update

Using BrightPay to Create Earlier Year Updates

A Full Payment Submission (FPS) informs HMRC of payments to employees and includes deductions that have been made. This should be sent to HMRC from your payroll software on or before each payday.  The end of year deadline to send an FPS submission is the 19th April. If any amendments need to be made to an employee’s totals after this date then you are required to submit this information in the form of an Earlier Year Update (EYU).

EYUs are used to correct information submitted in the previous tax year. An EYU simply reports the adjustment made to an employee’s totals in the payroll, as opposed to reporting re-stated year to date totals for the tax year to HMRC. EYUs for each tax year can be prepared multiple times as required, without limit, and will be accepted by HMRC for a period of 6 years.

Unfortunately for employers, not all payroll software packages have the ability to create EYU files and therefore cannot easily make corrections where needed after the tax year. In addition to using their existing payroll software, many employers double their workload and use HMRC Basic PAYE Tools to create and submit an EYU. HMRC have advised that employers should only use Basic PAYE Tools to complete and submit an EYU if their payroll software does not have this facility.

It is important to note that good payroll software packages can seamlessly create an EYU and facilitate the submission to HMRC. Compared with using two separate payroll systems, it is advisable to look for payroll software that can do this for you, for example BrightPay.

With BrightPay, if a mistake is made in the payroll the user can seamlessly roll back the payroll for employees on an individual basis. Once the correction has been made and the payslip has been finalised, BrightPay will enable users to create the EYU at the click of a button. Simply select the employees for whom you have made an adjustment and submit the EYU to HMRC.

Along with easy to use RTI functionality, BrightPay also allows users to automate their auto enrolment duties and has both CIS and P11D features. Book a demo today to see just how easy it is to use BrightPay.

Read more at www.brightpay.co.uk >

Posted byRachel HynesinPayroll SoftwareRTI

BrightPay discontinuing Windows XP support

The technology that BrightPay utilises has been updated and improved. As a result of this improvement, BrightPay will no longer be able to run on Windows XP operating systems. This technological enhancement brings many performance, reliability and security improvements, while also opening up new possibilities for BrightPay’s development team to add further functionality. Users will not notice any obvious difference using BrightPay 2017/18 compared to previous versions as all the changes are operating in the background.

Microsoft discontinued support for Windows XP in April 2014. This means that Microsoft are no longer releasing upgrades for these systems. Although Windows XP machines may still work normally, it does mean that these PCs are more vulnerable to security risks and viruses.

If you are still using Windows XP, you should consider upgrading to a newer PC or operating system. Due to the greater security risks, more and more programmes and applications are discontinuing support for Windows XP. Internet Explorer 8 is also no longer supported. If your Windows XP PC is connected to the Internet and you use Internet Explorer 8 to surf the web, you might be exposing your PC to additional threats.

These security threats became a reality for many Windows XP users in recent weeks with more than 200,000 organisations becoming victims of the widespread ransomware attack, WannaCry. This cyber attack affected organisations across the globe, including hospitals, banks and government agencies. The majority of these victims were using outdated or older Windows operating systems, such as Windows XP and Windows Vista.

While we do apologise for any inconvenience this change may cause, it is the best decision for our customers’ security and user experience.

Useful links:

• Which version of Windows am I running?
• Keep your payroll data safe against Ransomware

Posted byRachel HynesinPayroll SoftwareSoftware Upgrade

Keep your payroll data safe against Ransomware

Ransomware, like the name suggests, is when your files are held for ransom. It is a type of malware that essentially takes over a computer and prevents users from accessing their data until such time as a ransom is paid. The ransomware encrypts data on the computer using an encryption key that only the attacker knows. If you want to decrypt them, you have to pay. If the ransom isn’t paid, the data is often lost forever.

A ransomware attack, also known as WannaCry or WeCrypt, recently spread across the globe and is believed to have affected over 200,000 organisations. The cyber-attack struck banks, hospitals and government agencies in more than 150 countries, exploiting known vulnerabilities in Microsoft operating systems.

How to protect against a ransomware attack?

• Think before you click – It is important to look for malicious email messages that are often concealed as emails from companies or people you regularly interact with online. It is important to avoid clicking on links or opening attachments in those messages, since they could unleash malware. However, unlike many other malicious programs, WannaCry has the ability to move around a network by itself. Once the virus is inside an organisation, it will hunt down vulnerable machines and infect them too.

• Keep software up to date – Users should ensure that security updates are installed on their computer as soon as they are released. Last month, the NSA revealed software vulnerabilities in a Windows Server component which allows files to spread within corporate networks. Since then, Microsoft has released software patches for the security holes. Anyone who applied this patch more than likely was not affected by WannaCry. However, not everyone has installed these updates and so these users are susceptible to an attack. It is also important to note that the vulnerability does not exist within Windows 10, but is present in all versions of Windows prior to that, dating back to Windows XP. Support for Windows XP was discontinued in 2014, and so if you are using XP it is recommended to upgrade to a more secure system. It is important to keep all software packages up to date to maximise protection against attacks.

• Keep backups of data files – Users should regularly back up their data, which will make it possible to restore files without paying a ransom. This can be done by saving files to a USB key, external server or a cloud sharing facility such as Dropbox or Google Drive. Individual software packages may also offer a backup facility, enabling you to automatically back up sensitive data, for example BrightPay Connect allows users to easily backup payroll data.
  
  

How can BrightPay Connect help?

BrightPay Connect allows employers to automatically and securely backup payroll data to a highly secure cloud server. Payroll data (including payslips, payroll reports, auto enrolment records etc.) is automatically backed up every 15 minutes ensuring that you will never lose your payroll data if you are the victim of an attack.

You may decide that you only want to use BrightPay Connect for payroll backups, however, the features listed below can also be availed of.

With BrightPay Connect, employers can invite their employees to their own self-service portal. Employees can login to their own personal account, be it on their PC, tablet or smartphone, where they can view payroll documents relevant to them, with a full history of payslips, P60s and auto enrolment documents. Employees can also request annual leave and view annual leave remaining through their portal.

Furthermore, BrightPay Connect provides users with an annual leave management facility and a document upload facility, where all information is stored within the same location. With the document upload, employers can upload employee contracts & staff handbooks, training manuals, employment documents and much more, which can be accessed by employers and employees on any device.

Find out more about BrightPay Connect with an online demo.

Posted byRachel HynesinBrightPay ConnectEmployee ContractsEmployee HandbookEmployee Self ServicePayroll Software

Switching to BrightPay - Made Easier for you

As we move into the new tax year, employers and payroll bureaus across the UK are reviewing their software packages to ensure their payroll processing is working at maximum efficiently. There are many things to compare between different packages, such as price, ease of use, automation and support.

BrightPay’s development team have been working hard this past year to add as many new features that benefit our customers into the 2017/18 version of BrightPay. The ease of switching to BrightPay was a key priority for us to simplify the transfer process from other software packages.

Importing from Moneysoft & HMRC Basic PAYE Tools

If you are switching from HMRC Basic PAYE Tools or Moneysoft, we now have a seamless import, bringing in both employer and employee information for multiple company files instantly. Watch this video to see how easily you can import from HMRC Basic PAYE Tools straight into BrightPay.

Importing from other software packages

When switching from other payroll software packages, the first step is to set up your employer information. For bureaus with multiple employers, you can access your database or csv file with a list of your clients along with their payroll information, then you can easily set up the employers using our new bulk employer import feature.

Once you have the ability to export the employer data from your payroll you can import a csv file or FPS file into BrightPay. This will allow you to instantly add all of your employee information into the payroll compared with manually typing in all of the information. If your current payroll software allows you to export your payroll information (such as Sage, IRIS, etc), the easiest way to import employees is via CSV file. This will import all employee information, including year-to-date figures if the transfer is mid-year.

If you cannot export such a file from your current payroll software, then you have the option to import using a Full Payment Submission (FPS) file. This will import all the information that is included on an FPS to HMRC, including NI letter, tax code and year to date figures. However, this method will not import information not included on the FPS, such as employee email addresses, bank details, annual leave entitlement, departmental allocation etc.

Along with an improved transfer process, we have also introduced a number of exciting new features this year, including the ability to batch send RTI submissions, export a payroll journal to accounting packages, automatically retrieve coding notices and much more.

BrightPay 2017/18 is Now Available

You can now purchase BrightPay 2017/18. The bureau licence is just £229 + VAT, per tax year including unlimited employers, unlimited employees, free auto enrolment and free phone and email support. The single employer licence is is £99 + VAT, per tax year and includes unlimited employees, free auto enrolment and free phone and email support.

Book a BrightPay demo and find out why our customers give us a 99% satisfaction rate. Alternatively, you can avail of our 60 day free trial and parallel run with your existing software.

Posted byRachel HynesinPayrollPayroll Software

Nannies & Carers - How does Auto Enrolment affect me?

Auto Enrolment means that all employers must put certain staff into a workplace pension and pay into it. Employing someone in your home (such as a carer, nanny, or gardener) means that you are an employer and therefore you will have auto enrolment duties to complete. Your staging date is the date the law comes into effect for you. The Pensions Regulator will write to you to notify you of your staging date and tell you what duties need to be completed.

At staging, you must assess the age and earnings of your staff to see if they are an eligible jobholder. Eligible jobholders are those who are aged between 22 and state pension age and earn over £10,000 per year. You must automatically enrol these employees into a workplace pension scheme.

Auto Enrolment Tasks

• Your first step as an employer is to set up a pension scheme and this can be done in advance of your staging date. When you reach your staging date, you must assess staff, and if eligible, enrol them into the pension scheme. Along with being enrolled into the pension scheme, you must also deduct contributions from employees pay and add these contributions to the employees pension pot. By law, the employer must also contribute to the scheme. These contributions must meet minimum regulations, which is currently 1% employer and 1% employee. By April 2019, these minimum rates will rise to 3% employer and 5% employee.

• If an enrolled employee does not wish to be part of the pension scheme, they can decide to opt out of the pension scheme within 1 month of being enrolled. Employees who opt out are entitled to a full refund of any pension contributions made to date. All employees who are not eligible to be automatically enrolled are known as either non-eligible jobholders or entitled workers. Non-eligible jobholders may choose to opt in to the pension scheme, and if so, they must be enrolled and treated exactly the same as an eligible jobholder, i.e. must meet minimum employer and employee contributions. On the other hand, entitled workers may choose the join a scheme and this scheme does not have to meet these requirements.

• Along with the above duties, you must also communicate with all employees. You must write a letter to eligible jobholders to let them know that they have been enrolled into a pension, the contribution rates and their option to opt out. A letter must also be sent to non-eligible and entitled workers to let them know of their right to opt in or join the scheme.

• Another important auto enrolment task is to complete your declaration of compliance. This must be completed within 5 months after your staging date and notifies the Pensions Regulator that you have fully complied with AE. This must be completed regardless of whether or not you have automatically enrolled employees. If you have no eligible jobholders, be aware that you still have a number of auto enrolment responsibilities, including communicating with non eligible and entitled workers and completing the declaration of compliance. There are many other auto enrolment tasks that employers are responsible for, including keeping records for a minimum of 6 years and re-enrolling employees into a pension scheme every 3 years.

Software Solutions

Although software is not a legal requirement for auto enrolment, the Pensions Regulator recommends that you have software in place to simplify the process. Most payroll software enables employers to automate and simplify the employers auto enrolment tasks. It is important that HMRC Basic PAYE Tools users are aware that the software does not and will not cater for auto enrolment. This means that all the auto enrolment tasks must be completed manually, increasing the workload and the risk of errors.

If you have someone who manages your payroll or finances for you, it may be worth contacting them to see how they can help you with your duties. If you manage your own payroll, BrightPay is the perfect tool that will allow you to seamlessly and effortlessly process auto enrolment tasks. BrightPay automates most of an employers auto enrolment tasks, including employee assessment, auto enrolment communications and opt outs & refunds. The software is currently compatible with 17 different pension providers, including direct integration with both NEST and Smart Pension.

BrightPay’s standard employer licence for 2017/18 costs £99 + VAT per tax year. The 17/18 bureau licence is £229 + VAT per tax year. This includes full auto enrolment functionality, free support, and the ability to process payroll for an unlimited number of employees. BrightPay also has a free licence for employers with 3 or less employees. Book a demo today to see how easy it can be to process auto enrolment with BrightPay. The online demo lasts approx 30 minutes and will also include how you can easily process payroll on a day to day basis for employees. In the meantime, why not download a 60 day free trial to find out how your business can benefit from BrightPay.

Posted byRachel HynesinAuto EnrolmentPayroll

Are you up to date with family friendly leave?

Family friendly leave has developed significantly in recent years. Keeping abreast of what’s what can be challenging for employers.

BrightPay’s employment law experts have designed a free webinar for employers, which will give attendees an overview of Maternity, Paternity, Shared Parental Leave and Parental Leave how to process them directly through payroll.

The webinar will highlight frequently asked questions in relation to the leave types mentioned above, such as:

• Who is eligible?
• How employees apply?
• Pay and other benefits during family friendly leave.
• Managing family friendly leave efficiently and legally!

The webinar will give attendees a chance to ask any questions you may have, with an interactive Q&A session at the end of the webinar.

Places are limited for this webinar. Don’t miss out – book your place now!

If you cannot attend the webinar, don't worry – the webinar will be recorded and as long as you have registered you will receive a link to the recording afterwards.

Bright Contracts – Employment Contracts and Handbooks.
BrightPay – Payroll & Auto Enrolment Software.

Posted byRachel HynesinBright Contracts NewsEventsParental Leave

BrightPay announced as a finalist for CIPP’s ‘Payroll Software Product of the Year’ award

The finalists for the CIPP Annual Excellence Awards have just been announced. We are delighted to reveal that BrightPay has been shortlisted for the ‘Payroll Software Product of the Year’ award for the second year running.

CIPP's Annual Excellence Awards will be held on Thursday 6 October at the Celtic Manor Resort, Wales. The awards are the longest running awards in the industry, currently in their 13th year. Being the only awards from a Chartered professional body for payroll, they are the most prestigious awards for individuals and organisations in the industry.

The awards ceremony will be run alongside CIPP’s Annual Conference and Exhibition which will take place on 6th & 7th October. BrightPay will be exhibiting at the conference allowing attendees to ask us any questions you might have. Make sure to chat to the BrightPay team where we can give you a quick demo of the software and take you through our newest feature – BrightPay Cloud.

Find out more about CIPP’s Annual Conference and Exhibition and Annual Excellence Awards here.

Posted byRachel HynesinAwardsEvents

BrightPay Reviews & Testimonials - Find out what our customers think?

At BrightPay, we enjoy exceeding our customers’ expectations. We are constantly improving our payroll and auto enrolment software and the support that we provide for all our users enhance your customer experience.

To do this, BrightPay recently carried out a Customer Satisfaction Survey to find out what our customers really think. The results were overwhelming! We were delighted to discover that both BrightPay and our customer support team have a satisfaction rate of 99%.

Customers left remarkable comments, praising BrightPay’s simplicity, reliability, functionality, value for money, customer support… the list goes on! Here is a selection of some of the comments…

• I have used BrightPay for nearly two years now and I love it! Its great value for money. It saves me time a does a great job. I can't recommend it enough
• BrightPay is the very best software I have ever purchased!!
• From day one it's been a delight to deal with BrightPay - it's improved my relationship with HMRC - I can't recommend them enough - it's almost a pleasure to do the wages each week!
• This is a great program for any size of company and it is very easy to use, has everything you need, and is it very good value for money, I would recommend this program to everyone who need payroll

BrightPay saves time & money…

• I absolutely love using BrightPay. It has reduced the time it takes to do my payroll to less than an hour when it used to take nearly three! It links to Nest and creates bank files making payments faster. It has built in letters and reminders for auto enrolment and really does the work for you
• Using BrightPay has made my life so much easier - time spent would have been easily 70% longer if I didn't have BrightPay

Switching to BrightPay…

• I used Sage for many years and was nervous about changing. The changeover from Sage to BrightPay was quick and easy. The payroll experience is now a pleasure!
• Transition from other software was so easy any queries are answered professionally and in a timely manner

BrightPay vs. competitors…

• IRIS, ADP and other outdated payroll systems have had their day, the new world is BrightPay for payroll processing. User friendly, practical and versatile software making running payroll easy and me look good
• I regularly recommend BrightPay to those I know who have need of payroll software, it does everything that the more expensive software will do but it is in my opinion more efficient, easier to use and with greater benefits
• In my opinion BrightPay is about the best payroll and Auto Enrolment software in the market, easy to use and efficient. Totally reliable and always up to date software. Keep up the excellent work

BrightPay’s value for money…

• BrightPay is extremely functional and very good value for money. We moved from Iris in April 2015 and have not regretted the decision
• I couldn't believe how affordable it is, definitely customer focused as they put customers first instead of their own pocket

BrightPay’s support team…

• Telephone support is rarely needed as the software is intuitive with "help" feature that provides 99% of the answers. For that rare 1% that persist I find telephone support is easily accessible, patient and they know their product well.
• From the start I found it easy to understand the programme; when I needed advice, I found it easy to obtain through the Helpline. I thoroughly recommend BrightPay

BrightPay’s functionality & ease of use…

• Very user friendly payroll software. Compared to other packages I used before this software was breeze to use and the tutorials on their website are great
• I can't recommend this highly enough. Super reliable, super-fast, well supported. It's a pleasure to work with something which has been so thoroughly well designed and built.
• BrightPay is so easy to use anyone with a little knowledge can use it with ease. You can rest reassured that your duties as an employer are being satisfied and all in less time than with other payroll software. I would recommend BrightPay to everyone
• Since changing to BrightPay it has not only been cost effective for the business but extremely easy to use and has made the auto enrolment process easy and stress free

BrightPay for bureaus…

• I wouldn't hesitate to recommend BrightPay to both professional payroll bureaus, employers and single people alike. I have found very few problems with our switch over and I am a bureau processing well over a hundred payrolls
• I have used BrightPay for several years with the bureau service and it has never let me down. The aftercare and personal attention is second to none. I have recommended BrightPay to several of my colleagues and I know I can do this with every confidence they will never look at another software program for payroll

BrightPay for employers…

• Would recommend to any small start-up business as a MUST to have peace of mind and your PAYE all secure and HMRC fully up to date
• If you're a payroll novice, like me - don't worry. Get BrightPay. Use it and know that you're getting it right
• This software has transformed the process of handling employees in small enterprise - the previous burden has been lifted off my shoulders, and it helps me keep abreast of my commitments to report and pay over money to HMRC like a dream.

This is just a fraction of the hundreds of wonderful comments that BrightPay received! You can also find out more about what customers have to say on the BrightPay testimonials and BrightPay case studies pages on our website.

If you haven’t yet seen BrightPay, you can book a demo with our sales team. The 20 minute online demo will take you through processing both payroll and auto enrolment. You can also download a 60 day free trial of the software with full functionality.

Posted byRachel HynesinAwards