The Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals ……………………………………………………………Policy News Journal
What you need to know about helping your clients to complete their Declaration of Compliance
All employers have workplace pensions duties which mean they will need to automatically enrol certain staff into a pension scheme and make contributions to it. They need to assess their staff, put those that they need to into a pension scheme, and tell them about automatic enrolment. They should start planning for automatic enrolment 12 months before their staging date. This is the date their duties come into effect. Many of your clients may ask you for help and support with their automatic enrolment duties, with insight from TPR indicating that many employers are asking their adviser to help them to complete and submit their declaration of compliance. Completing the declaration shows TPR what employers have done to meet their duties. Who needs to complete a Declaration of Compliance? All employers with one or more staff have a legal requirement to complete a Declaration of Compliance. Even if they do not have any staff to put into a pension, they must complete the declaration to confirm they have met their duties. When does it need to be completed by? Each employer has a declaration of compliance deadline which falls five months after their staging date. Their declaration of compliance needs to be completed and submitted to TPR by this deadline. Although employers have five months to complete their declaration, we recommend they start completing it as soon as possible after their staging date. Filling in details as they go through the automatic enrolment process will help employers avoid missing their deadline. What if postponement has been used? If postponement has been used, a declaration of compliance cannot be completed until after the postponement period has ended. However, don’t leave filling in the details until then as there may be very little time between the end of the postponement period and the declaration deadline. It’s a good idea to fill in the details as you get them so that you do not risk running out of time. Can I do this on behalf on my client? If your client has asked you to complete the declaration on their behalf, it remains the employer’s responsibility to ensure the declaration is completed on time and the information provided to us is correct. If not, they risk a fine. So, make sure there is agreement about who is completing the declaration of compliance and that the information is correct.
What if I don’t complete the declaration on time? Failure to complete your declaration on time could lead to a fine.
How can I access the Declaration of Compliance? The declaration is a secure, online form. You will need to register with Government Gateway as an employer agent before you can complete a declaration of compliance on behalf of your client.
What information do I need to complete it? If you have all the relevant information to hand it can take as little as 15 minutes to complete your client’s declaration.
Information you’ll need to complete the declaration:
Government Gateway User ID Letter code from TPR Your contact details Your relationship to the employer
Name of the employer Employer contact details Employer email address Employer correspondence address Type of pension scheme(s) used for AE (personal or occupational) Employer pension scheme reference (EPSR)
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The Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals
Policy News Journal
cipp.org.uk
Page 445 of 588
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