Automatic Enrolment

Have any of the employers that use the scheme passed their automatic enrolment staging date?

By law all employers will have to put their staff who meet certain conditions into a pension scheme over the next few years. The biggest employers started doing this in October 2012. This is called ‘automatic enrolment’. All employers have a staging date which is the date from which they must enrol eligible staff into a pension scheme in accordance with their duties under the Pensions Act 2008. You can check an employer’s staging date on the Pension Regulator’s website:

http://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/employers/staging-date.aspx

Please answer ‘Yes’: - if at least one employer using the scheme has passed their staging date (the date when an employer’s automatic enrolment duties under the Pensions Act 2008 come into force).

Please answer ‘No’: - if no employer using the scheme has passed their staging date (the date when an employer’s automatic enrolment duties under the Pensions Act 2008 come into force).

For more information about automatic enrolment see:

http://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/en/employers

Since 6 April 2015, have any employers who have passed their staging date, automatically enrolled any staff into this scheme to meet their automatic enrolment duties?

Please answer ‘Yes’:- if at least one employer has used this scheme to meet their automatic enrolment duties under the Pensions Act 2008 in one or more of the following ways:

At least one eligible jobholder was automatically enrolled into the scheme before 6 April 2015, and didn’t opt out or otherwise leave the scheme before that date.
At least one eligible jobholder was automatically enrolled into the scheme on or after 6 April 2015.
At least one non-eligible jobholder opted into the scheme before 6 April 2015, and didn’t opt out or otherwise leave the scheme before that date.
At least one non-eligible jobholder opted into the scheme on or after 6 April 2015.

Eligible jobholders are workers who:

are aged at least 22 but under state pension age; and
are working or ordinarily work in the UK under their contract; and
have qualifying earnings payable by the employer in the relevant pay reference period that are above the earnings trigger for automatic enrolment.

Non-eligible jobholders are workers who are working or ordinarily work in the UK under their contract and:

are aged between 16 and 21 or state pension age and 74
have qualifying earnings above the earnings trigger for automatic enrolment

are aged between 16 and 74
have qualifying earnings equal to or below the earnings trigger for automatic enrolment.

Please note that this question is about automatic enrolment rather than contractual enrolment – the two are different.
http://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/docs/detailed-guidance-6.pdf

Please answer ‘No’: - if on or after 6 April 2015 there has not been anyone actively participating in the scheme who was automatically enrolled or opted in under the Pensions Act 2008. For example, the employer decided to use another scheme to meet their duties, or anyone who was automatically enrolled or opted in left the scheme before 6 April 2015.

For more information about automatic enrolment see:
http://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/en/employers

If you are unsure how to correctly answer these questions, you may wish to seek your own legal advice.

Since 6 April 2015, have any employers who have passed their staging date, used this scheme to meet their employer duties for any staff who were existing members of the scheme?

This question does not relate to staff who were automatically enrolled into the scheme or opted in.

The question is about contractual enrolment rather than automatic enrolment. It relates to employers using the scheme to meet their employer duties for staff who were already in the scheme when they became eligible or non-eligible jobholders, and therefore did not need to be automatically enrolled or given the option to opt into the scheme. For example, if the individuals were eligible jobholders who were already active members of the scheme on the employer’s staging date, and the scheme meets the qualifying criteria*, they would not need to be automatically enrolled.

Please answer ‘Yes’:- if at least one employer has used this scheme on or after 6 April 2015 to meet their employer duties under the Pensions Act 2008 in one or both of the following ways:

At least one eligible or non-eligible jobholder was contractually enrolled into the scheme before 6 April 2015, and didn’t leave before the later of:
1. 6 April 2015; or
2. The employer’s staging date.
At least one eligible or non-eligible jobholder was contractually enrolled into the scheme on or after 6 April 2015, and didn’t leave before the employer’s staging date if this was after 6 April 2015.

Eligible jobholders are workers who:

are aged at least 22 but under state pension age; and
are working or ordinarily work in the UK under their contract; and
have qualifying earnings payable by the employer in the relevant pay reference period that are above the earnings trigger for automatic enrolment.

Non-eligible jobholders are workers who are working or ordinarily work in the UK under their contract and:

are aged between 16 and 21 or state pension age and 74
have qualifying earnings above the earnings trigger for automatic enrolment

are aged between 16 and 74
have qualifying earnings equal to or below the earnings trigger for automatic enrolment.

Please answer ‘No’:- if no employer has used this scheme on or after 6 April 2015 to meet their employer duties under the Pensions Act 2008 for any staff who were already members of the scheme when they first became eligible or non-eligible jobholders. This may, for example, be because all employers decided to use another scheme to meet their automatic enrolment duties, because there were no existing members actively participating in the scheme on the employer’s staging date, or because any such existing members left the scheme before 6 April 2015.

* For more information for employers using an existing scheme to meet their duties, see:
http://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/en/employers/duties-checker/outcomes/i-am-an-employer-who-has-to-provide-a-pension/choose-a-pension-or-check-your-existing-one.aspx

If you are unsure how to correctly answer these questions, you may wish to seek your own legal advice.