PENSIONS INSIGHT
The Pensions Regulator explains how, every three years, certain members of staff must be re- enrolled into an automatic enrolment pension scheme Re-enrolment
A n employer’s duties will vary depending on whether they have staff to re-enrol or not. Either way, they will need to complete a re-declaration of compliance to tell The Pensions Regulator how their duties have been met. The four steps to the process are outlined below. An employer’s re-enrolment date is a chosen date (within a six-month re- enrolment window) and is when all an employer’s staff are reassessed for re- enrolment. The six-month re-enrolment window starts three months before and ends three months after the third anniversary of an employer’s automatic enrolment staging date. An employer’s re-declaration deadline will be five months after the third anniversary date. See the Example to help work out when deadlines will be. When choosing the re-enrolment date, it may be useful to choose a date Step 1 – choose the re-enrol ment date
which aligns re-enrolment with other business processes, such as the start of the employer’s financial year, or to avoid seasonal peaks. It should be noted that postponement cannot be applied at re- enrolment. Step 2 – assessing staff On an employer’s re-enrolment date, they’ll need to assess certain staff to work out if they need to be put back into their workplace pension scheme. Staff must be assessed if they have: ● asked to leave (opted out of) the pension scheme ● left (ceased active membership of) the pension scheme after the end of the opt- out period ● stayed in the pension scheme – but chosen to reduce the level of pension contributions to below the minimum level set by law. There is no need to reassess staff who, on the re-enrolment date: ● are already in the pension scheme used for automatic enrolment (a qualifying
scheme) ● are aged 21 or under
● are at state pension age or over ● are being postponed for automatic enrolment (for example, a new member of staff). If employers have staff to re-enrol, they must be put back into their pension scheme (and start paying into it) within six weeks after their re-enrolment date. Even if there are no staff to re-enrol, a declaration of compliance must still be completed. Step 3 – write to re-enrolled staff Within six weeks after their re-enrolment date, employers will need to write to each member of staff that has been re-enrolled to tell them they been put them back into the workplace pension scheme. The Pensions Regulator provides letter templates to help with this. Note that the employer’s pension provider may be willing to do this on their behalf. Step 4 – complete a re- declaration of compliance Re-declaration is an online form which tells The Pensions Regulator what has been done to meet the re-enrolment duties. This must be completed and submitted within five months of the third anniversary
Example – re-enrolment and re-declaration deadlines
Staging date
1 April 2014 1 April 2017
Third anniversary of staging date
Re-enrolment window
1 January 2017 to 30 June 2017
Re-declaration deadline
31 August 2017
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward | February 2017 | Issue 27 34
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker