Feb 2015
23
Automatic Enrolment and Postponement
When a company reaches its staging date, it must automatically enrol all eligible employees into a qualifying pension scheme.
If it is not ready to enrol employees at the staging date, it can defer the enrolment of all employees for up to 3 months. This may be because it has not yet registered with a pension scheme or it may be because it doesn't have the necessary systems in place to handle assessments and contributions.
An essential part of postponement is communicating with all employees within 6 weeks of the staging date, letting them know that automatic enrolment has been deferred. If the company fails to issue these communications then postponement will never have happened and auto enrolment must be applied retrospectively to the staging date.
This is important as apparently some employers are interpreting postponement as not having to do anything for a 3 month period!
BrightPay prompts the user to print these letters before proceeding beyond the staging date.
Feb 2015
16
4 tips when setting up your automatic enrolment scheme with NEST
Before your staging date you should register with a qualifying automatic enrolment pension scheme. NEST operates one of these schemes and it will probably be the most popular scheme for small and micro businesses due to two main factors:
a] It is Government backed
b] It has a legal obligation to accept all employers who wish to use it to comply with the duties, irrespective of their size
Registering with NEST is fairly straightforward and should take you no more than half an hour. If you are going for the bog standard setup with the one minimum scheme for all employees, you have no delegates and you have your bank details to hand, the setup time could be as little as 10 minutes!
The four things to note or watch out for during the setup are:
1. Name of payment source. You'll be asked to put a name on the payment source you will be using to pay contributions. You can use any name you like e.g. Bank1. The thing to watch out for here is that when you enter the NEST details into BrightPay that you use the exact same name with the same uppercase and lowercase letters. If you enter "Bank1" in the NEST registration and then enter "bank1" in BrightPay, your csv file submissions will be rejected by NEST. Both names must be identical in all respects.
2. Group name. If you are just applying the one rule for all employees, then you will only have one group. You could call this group "Group1". Again it is vital that you enter the exact same name when entering the details in BrightPay.
3. Pay periods. If you pay your staff monthly, enter the start and end date of your actual pay period and NOT the tax period. BrightPay does not use tax periods for calculating contributions or for worker assessment.
4. Contribution rates and workers' pay. Again, assuming you are going for the bog standard, your contributions rates will be the current minimum and this will be calculated on qualifying earnings. Of course it’s also possible, and just as easy, to pay contributions above the minimum levels should you wish.
If you intend to have someone else look after your automatic enrolment duties e.g your accountant, bookkeeper or payroll bureau provider, you will need their details. NEST provides a checklist of details to obtain before you register with them. This can be found here.
Once you have completed your registration with NEST you should then enter the details in BrightPay. This should take no more than 3 minutes.
BrightPay will start enrolling employees once your staging date arrives (or give you the option to postpone for up to 3 months).
Feb 2015
9
Almost half of fathers won’t qualify for Shared Parental Leave
From April mothers will be allowed to share up to 50 weeks of their maternity leave and 37 weeks of their pay.
However, TUC analysis published shows that 40% of working dads with a child under the age of one would be ineligible because their partner is not in paid work. Mothers who are not employed or self employed do not have a right to share maternity leave or pay.
The TUC says that it welcomes SPL, but is concerned the scheme will have a limited impact because of the rules around eligibility and low statutory pay.
According to government projections, as few as 5,700 men are expected to apply for shared parental leave over the next 12 months. However, it estimates that shared parental leave would be open to around 200,000 more fathers each year if their rights to take it were not dependant on the mother being in work.
Half of new dads in the UK do not take their full two weeks’ statutory paternity leave – a rate that rises to three-quarters of fathers on the lowest incomes. The TUC says that without better rights to leave and pay, many men will continue to miss out on playing an active role in the first year of their child’s life.
Feb 2015
4
Nannies will have to be Auto Enrolled in a Pension Scheme
Do all nannies need to be automatically enrolled?
Most do; nannies who are aged between 22 and the State Pension Age and earn above the Tax Free Allowance (currently £10,000) will need to be automatically enrolled..
A nanny who does not qualify to be automatically enrolled still has the right to ask to join a workplace pension.
My nanny is part time - will I have to set up a pension for her?
Yes – even though your nanny might not need to be enrolled she has the legal right to join a pension. That means that you need to have a pension in place for her to join.
What if my nanny doesn't want a pension? Do I still have to enrol her?
If your nanny qualifies for automatic enrolment, you are legally obliged to enrol her. However, your nanny can always opt out of the pension scheme once they’ve been enrolled if they don’t want to take part.
When will automatic enrolment affect nanny employers?
Automatic enrolment is being introduced gradually. The day the new legislation applies to you is called your Staging Date and will be between now and October 2017.
Feb 2015
2
Employers fined by The Pensions Regulator over auto-enrolment failures
More than 160 employers were issued with fixed penalties of £400 last year after The Pensions Regulator (TPR) ramped up the use of its powers for auto-enrolment failures.
166 businesses were issued with fines in the last quarter of last year, compared to only three firms receiving penalties in the previous nine months. This increase coincided with a bulge in the number of medium-sized firms obliged to complete auto-enrolment last year.
There was also a surge in the number of compliance notices issued in the final quarter at 1,139, compared to 163 between July and September 2014. Employers are obliged to a submit a formal document, known as a declaration of compliance, to the regulator within five months of the firm's start date for the auto enrolment process.
The Pensions Regulator spokesman, Charles Counsell, has made it clear that it expects more firms to be fined as the enrolment process gathers momentum. "The number of employers approaching the date when they must confirm that they have complied with new workplace pensions duties (known as a declaration of compliance) is now beginning to rise significantly," he said. "With the mass market roll out of automatic enrolment to large numbers of small businesses in the coming months, we expect to see an increase in how often we need to use our powers."
The main reason for not signing up employees to a pension scheme on time seems to be that some employers have just not given themselves enough time to prepare. The regulator recommends that firms start planning at least a year before their staging date for beginning their auto-enrolment process.
Jan 2015
27
Correcting Payroll Errors
Correcting Payroll Errors using Full Payment Submission (FPS)
If a mistake has been made with an employee’s pay or deductions it can corrected by using your next Full Payment Submission (FPS) to update your year-to-date figures.
Correcting Payroll Errors using an Additional Full Payment Submission (FPS)
An additional FPS can also be sent to correct year-to-date figures providing it is sent before your next FPS is due. In the case of an additional FPS the same pay date should be used.
If an employee has been underpaid you can either send an additional FPS, on or before you pay your employee the additional amount or by the 19th of the tax month after you sent your original FPS. HMRC will include the correction in that month’s PAYE bill.
Correcting errors in an employee’s National Insurance deductions
Both FPS’s and additional FPS’s can be used to correct mistakes to National Insurance deductions.
If an employee has underpaid their national insurance in a particular month, only the equivalent of their following month’s national insurance liability can be taken from them the following month. The remainder must be recovered in another month. Pay any underpayment to HMRC straight away.
Example: Your employee underpaid by €80 in January. In February the employee’s national insurance is €60. This means you can only recover up to €60 towards their underpayment that month. The remainder will need to be recovered the following month.
If the underpayment was in a previous tax year
An Earlier Year Update (EYU) should be sent to HMRC stating the difference between what you originally deducted and the correct amount. The EYU will inform HMRC if you’ve deducted or repaid the difference to the employee. Once more if you have deducted too little you can’t recover more than the National Insurance due that month.
Correcting an employee’s student loan repayments
Both FPS’s and additional FPS’s can be used to correct mistakes once the difference has been repaid or deducted to the employee. Once more if you have deducted too little you can’t recover more than the student loan deductions due that month.
If the mistake was in a previous tax year
If you have deducted too little you do not need to do anything. The employee can contact the Student Loans Company to see how it affects them. If you have deducted too much refund your employee and you can correct your year-to-date figures using an FPS on or before 19th April otherwise use an EYU.
Jan 2015
14
HMRC simplifies end of year payroll submissions
Under RTI employers running payroll are required to report their employees’ pay and deductions to HMRC in regular Full Payment Submissions (FPS) through the year. A final end of year FPS (or EPS) must be submitted by 19 April.
Employers will no longer be required to answer extra questions on the payroll submissions they make to HMRC at the end of the tax year.
The seven extra questions, which are only included on the final FPS of the year, were inherited from the old P35 form, which had a submission deadline of 19 May. This gave employers and agents much more time to ascertain the correct answers to the questions, such as whether any special payments have been received in the year from third parties.
Removing the requirement to submit this information at year end will significantly reduce burdens on employers but will most definitely reduce burdens on agents and bureaux, and make a busy time of the year just a little less frantic by removing the mandatory need for the employer (client) to provide confirmation to the answers to seven questions.
The change is expected to take effect from 6 March 2015, avoiding the need to complete the checklist for the 2014/15 tax year.
From 6 March 2015 HMRC will accept a final FPS or EPS for 2014/15 and 2015/16 with or without a completed checklist, but employers should still report the Final Submission for Year indicator.
Dec 2014
30
The Top 5 Payroll Software and other changes for 2015-16
A range of employment changes are set to come into effect in 2015. Employers need to familiarise themselves with these changes to ensure they are processing payroll correctly.
Some of the most significant changes to be aware of include:
1. Family Friendly Changes
a. Shared Parental Leave & Pay
This is brand new legislation which will apply to parents with babies due to be born/placed for adoption on or after 5th April 2015. Eligible parents will have the flexibility to share statutory leave and statutory pay in the child’s first year. Under the legislation, leave and pay may be taken in discontinuous blocks, and also both parents may take leave and be in receipt of statutory pay at the same time. Whilst using payroll software will ease the burden of processing shared parental leave and pay, there is a rigorous application process that must be completed by employees. To be sure you are ready, employers are well advised to familiarise themselves with the regulations early. Further details are available here.
b. Changes to Statutory Adoption Leave & Pay
From 5 April 2015 there will be no service requirement in order for employees to be eligible to take adoptive leave. Additionally, from 5 April 2015 the Statutory Adoption Pay rates will increase; the first 6 weeks will be paid at 90% of average weekly earnings. After that SAP will be paid at the lower of either the weekly standard rate or 90% of average weekly earnings. This will mirror the Statutory Maternity Pay rates.
Finally, primary adopters will now be entitled to paid time off to attend up to five adoption appointments.
c. Rise of child’s age limit for parental leave
The current right to take 18 weeks’ unpaid parental leave before a child’s 5th birthday is to be extended from 5 April 2015, so that leave can be taken up to the child’s 18th birthday.
2. Automatic Enrolment
Auto Enrolment will continue to be rolled out to all employers. Every UK employer has a date on which workplace pensions automatic enrolment applies to them, i.e. a staging date. For most employers that had between 30 and 58 staff on 1st April 2012 their staging date will be during 2015. However staging dates can vary, so employers are well advised to check out their staging date on the Pensions Regulator site http://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/employers/tools/staging-date.aspx
3. New Fit for Work Service
Due to be rolled out during the year, the Fit for Work Service will offer employers access to free occupational assistance for employees who have been off sick for four weeks or more. Employers will also be able to claim up to £500 tax relief on payments for medical treatment for their employees where the treatment has been recommended under the new scheme.
4. Statutory Pay Rates
The usual shifts in statutory rates of pay are scheduled for 2015. Rates for statutory maternity, paternity, and adoption pay will increase from 5 April 2015, as too will statutory sick pay rates. Any changes to the national minimum wage rates will be effective from 1 October 2015.
5. NIC and Under 21s
The abolition of employer NICs for Under 21s comes in to effect from 6th April 2015. Employers will not be required to pay Class 1 secondary NICs on earnings up to £815 per week, for employees who are under the age of 21. Class 1 secondary NICs will continue to be payable on all earnings in excess of £815 per week. This could result in savings to an employer of up to £90 per week for hiring an employee who is under 21!
Dec 2014
23
Auto enrolment with BrightPay: The Movie
Meet John, the small business owner who uses BrightPay payroll software to easily manage his automatic enrolment duties.
In this video, John uses a NEST pension scheme to enrol his employees. However BrightPay is also compatible with NOW: Pensions, The People's Pension, Scottish Widows, and many more.
BrightPay provides everything you need to prepare your clients for Auto Enrolment.
- Staging and employee assessment
- Postponement feature
- Handles employee communications
- Ongoing monitoring and reporting
- Opt - outs and refund options
- Free email and phone support
- Fully compatible with RTI submissions & HMRC payments
- Integration with many pension providers (including tailored CSV preparation)
BrightPay is HMRC approved, RTI compliant and ICB (Institute of Chartered Bookkeepers) accredited.
Dec 2014
17
Statutory payment recovery rates for 2015-2016
The statutory payment recovery rates and NIC threshold for 2015-2016 have now been confirmed.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have confirmed that the statutory payment recovery rates and NIC threshold will remain the same for 2015-2016:
• 92% if the total Class 1 NICs (both employee and employer contributions) are above £45,000 for the previous tax year,
• 100% plus an additional 3% (NIC compensation rate) if the total Class 1 NICs for the previous tax year are £45,000 or lower.
