pay contributions at the same level that were paid immediately prior to transfer, as long as the scheme was a money purchase one.
Excerpt from response The interaction of the automatic enrolment requirements with the pension protection legislation could require some employers to pay much higher contributions than would be required to comply with their automatic enrolment duties. Under automatic enrolment it is possible that an employer could automatically enrol its employees in an occupational money purchase or stakeholder scheme with initial minimum contributions of 1% from the employer and 1% from the employee. If such employees are transferred to a new employer during the initial automatic enrolment phasing period, the new employer could then be required to pay contributions at the rate of 6%. This would increase costs for business beyond that envisaged under automatic enrolment, and could also lead to the transferred employees being placed in a more favourable position than they would have been had they remained with their former employer. Approved amendment In order to address this impact the government proposed that transferee employers should be able to satisfy the “relevant contributions” provisions of the pension protection legislation by matching the contributions paid by the transferor immediately prior to the transfer, instead of having to match the level of contributions chosen by the employee up to the 6% maximum.
The amended regulations will come into effect from 6 April 2014.
The Pensions Regulator publishes updated automatic enrolment guides
8 April 2014
Detailed guides have been updated to reflect the 2014/15 threshold changes for automatic enrolment.
A revised Software Guide taking into account the new thresholds is now available along with an updated Test Data Companion , which now includes examples of tax period PRPs and Re- enrolment.
There is also a summary document covering the technical changes and updates within the Software Guide for those who have already built AE within their product(s).
Detailed Guides have also been updated to reflect the 2014/15 threshold changes.
Automatic enrolment: feasibility of providing bulk staging date information
11 April 2014
A trial process is now underway aimed at agents who hold more than 500 employer PAYE scheme references.
Employers, and agents acting on behalf of employers, can find their automatic enrolment staging date using the Staging Date tool * on The Pensions Regulator’s website by entering their PAYE scheme reference. The Pensions Regulator is currently looking at the feasibility of providing bulk staging date information to software providers, service providers and others who act on behalf of multiple employers. A trial process is now underway aimed at agents who hold more than 500 employer PAYE scheme references.
CIPP Policy News Journal
08/04/2015, Page 325 of 521
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