REWARD
Time-saving tips
NEST’s John Hale talks through how to avoid receiving late payment notices andwhat to do if it happens, saving you time and effort
W e all want to complete our to-do list as efficiently and accurately as we can. But sometimes despite our best efforts there can be certain tasks that have a nasty habit of slowing us down or end up taking more time than they need to. One such issue payroll professionals may run into is facing an overdue contribution schedule. How to get your contributions to us on time Employers have a legal obligation to ensure pension contributions are paid and invested in the pension scheme by their payment due date. Failure to do so may result in being reported to the Pensions Regulator, which can be a stressful and worrying outcome. To avoid this happening, consider the following top tips when setting up and managing your contribution schedules. ● Understanding what a payment due date is – It is the date by when the employer must ensure contributions, or a reason for non-payment, for all current active members of the scheme are submitted to NEST. To make sure this happens you will need to submit the contribution schedule for payment at least five working days before the payment due date. Also remember you can pay earlier; you don’t need to submit the schedule at the last minute. Much better for you to do it earlier, which then allows time if things go wrong. For your workers it is also better as their pension money is invested earlier. ● Check your contribution schedules before submitting – It may seem obvious, but double-checking your schedules before you submit them could
well save you time and stress later on. Before you submit a schedule for payment you should check that it’s correct according to the amounts you were expecting from your payroll totals. Also make sure you have made a submission for all members on the NEST on-screen schedule. ● Make sure your date is achievable – Give yourself enough time to process payments after a pay period. Your payment due date is probably the one you chose when you first set up your NEST account. Perhaps it is time to review whether it is still appropriate. If you think your existing payment due date does not give you enough time you can change it by setting up a new NEST group with a different date. You’ll then need to transfer the members from the old group to the new one. Remember a payment due date cannot be any later than the 22nd of the month following the month in which the contributions were deducted from the members’ pay. ● Enrol workers with the correct start date – An eligible jobholder’s start date is the date they become eligible for auto- enrolment. This could be your duties start date, the day they turn 22 or join your organisation. If you enrol a worker late, with a start date in the past, we’ll expect a contribution for any earlier period, meaning they will appear on an old contribution schedule – triggering a late payment message. ● Make sure all member records are valid – When you provide information in a contribution schedule, we either need a payment or a reason for non-payment for every member. If a member record includes an error, you’ll need to fix it
before you can make a payment for that member. If you try to make a payment without fixing it, we will not accept the payment for that member. Remember, you need to submit something for all members on a contribution schedule even if they have zero contributions in that pay period. You must also provide a valid reason code for the non-payment. How to clear an overdue schedule If you have received a late payment notification, don’t panic! There’s usually a straightforward reason for it; the most common are listed below. ● The payment hasn’t cleared in our bank before the agreed due date – Ensure you allow enough time between submitting the contribution schedule and the payment due date, to make sure the payments can clear in our bank on time. For payments by direct debit you’ll get two options each pay period: ‘pay now’, which means we’ll collect the payment within five working days of your submission; and ‘pay later’, which allows you to specify a date you want the payment to be taken ● You haven’t given us information for all members on the contribution schedule – To avoid a late payment notification being generated, you’ll need to provide correct contributions or a valid reason for non-payment of contributions for all members. ● You haven’t submitted the schedule for payment by clicking ‘Submit schedule’ – Remember after you have loaded your contributions, or reasons for zero contribution, you still need to click submit schedule to authorise the payment and to mark up the member’s account with your submission. n
...check that it’s correct according to the amounts you were expecting...
For more hints and tips, visit nestviews.org.uk to watch our late payments video.
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward | November 2020 | Issue 65 30
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