Do you employ staff in your business?

If you do – even one person – you are now obliged by law to enroll your staff into a ‘workplace pension scheme’ and contribute to it for each employee. 

This is known as automatic enrolment. It is called automatic enrolment because staff are automatically enrolled into a scheme by their employers. 

However, it is not automatic to you – an employer! You have to take action and set up a scheme and register employees into it. 

There are also ongoing obligations which you as an employer must comply with or face penalties (including fines and even confiscation of assets).

Here at HML Davies Limited we are on hand to make all the work involved in setting up a workplace pension scheme and enrolling your staff into the scheme as stress free as possible. 

If you want further information about setting up and managing a workplace pension scheme, contact the HML team on 01204 393 040 and we’d be happy to advise and assist you. 

There’s a lot to consider and manage on an ongoing basis too, but we are able to ensure that all systems and processes are in place so that you can have minimal distraction from running and growing your business. 

There are 12 stages involved in setting up a workplace pension scheme and these start with something called a staging date. Each company has a different staging date which is the date its duties in relation to auto enrolment come into effect. 

The staging date is set by The Pensions Regulator and is based on which PAYE scheme you are using. 

The Pensions Regulator takes the data you have submitted to HMRC as at 1st April 2012 in order to set your staging date.

If you want further information about setting up and managing a workplace pension scheme, contact the HML team on 01204 393 040 and we’d be happy to advise and assist you. 

The Pensions Regulator will write to you and tell you what your staging date is. As an employer you must be ready for this date or face penalties and falling foul of the law!

Once you have gone through the 12-stage process, you still have to keep certain records and disclose these to the relevant authorities besides paying your contribution to your employees’ workplace pensions. 

These responsibilities are an extra burden on employers and include keeping records such as the names and addresses of staff enrolled in the scheme, when contributions are paid by you the employer, and if staff have opted out of the scheme. The law also requires employers to monitor the ages and earnings of new and existing staff and check their eligibility every month. Other administration duties are also required on an ongoing basis. 

We believe many employers will want to outsource all the work involved in setting up and running a workplace pension scheme, as well as reporting all the required data to HMRC, to a third party with the expertise, time and resources to do this.

If you want further information about setting up and managing a workplace pension scheme, contact the HML team on 01204 393 040 and we’d be happy to advise and assist you. 

Further information is also available from the website of the The Pensions Regulator http://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/automatic-enrolment.aspx