Auto-enrolment: what do I need to do and when?
Our guest blog is from Simon Griffiths from Mercer. We’ve recently started working with Mercer to launch Sage Employee Benefits, a new service designed to make it easier and more affordable for small businesses to introduce staff benefits packages from medical insurance and life assurance to pensions. Here Simon gets us up to speed with the significant pensions change – auto-enrolment. This new law will make it compulsory for all employers to auto-enrol qualifying employees into a company pension scheme and make employee contributions.
Mercer is delighted to have entered an exciting new partnership with Sage to provide guidance and support on a wide range of employee benefit topics. I can assure you there is no intended link between the previous Halloween theme…. and our first step in to the world of pensions!
Before you switch off……
We know that discussing and arranging pensions is not high on everyone’s list of priorities, but with the first stage of pension reforms due to start taking effect from October 2012, it is something that you will need to get to grips with soon. Whilst most organisations will not need to do anything until some time later it could be advantageous to start planning sooner rather than later. There are a lot of issues that need to be considered and early preparation will help ensure that you get credit from your employees for providing this valuable benefit for them.
What we have already heard…..
From some of the discussions we have already had with clients, a number of views have already been shared:
- “We’ve already got a scheme in place” – that’s great, but you need to ensure it meets certain qualifying criteria and not all current schemes do;
- “I have already offered my staff a pension scheme and no-one took it out, so they are obviously not interested” – previous legislation only required you to make a scheme available for staff to join, now they have to be included unless they opt out (subject to qualifying criteria);
- “It doesn’t apply to me” – the new legislation applies to all employers
The things to consider….
- Which of my employees does it apply to?
- Who pays what?
- What options are available?
- How will it operate?
All of these points are relevant and you can find advice from all sorts of places on the web, but don’t worry; Sage and Mercer are here to help. Through this blog, we will provide guidance on what you need to consider, when you need to consider it, how you should communicate it and, most importantly, when you need to do things by.
Getting prepared
For those who want to get a head start before our next instalment, you can get more information from our simple guide to Sage Pensions or through the Sage Employee Benefits website.
Simon Griffiths, Principal, Mercer
