Pensions
Revised Implementation Proposals for Workplace Pensions Reform
Monday, April 2nd, 2012It seems as though we are always writing about the amendment and revision of the implementation timetable for auto-enrolment! On 25 January 2012, Steve Webb, Pensions Minister, announced the publication of a revised timetable for auto-enrolment in the light of his previous announcement in November 2011. This said that the staging dates for small employers [...]
Auto-Enrolment Thresholds 2012/13
Tuesday, March 27th, 2012The Pensions Act 2011 required that Government annually reviews the auto-enrolment Earnings Trigger and Lower and Uppers bands of Qualifying Earnings. This ensures that the auto-enrolment process continues one of its objectives of targeting the lower-paid, whilst ensuring that as many people as possible are saving for their retirement. Also, the annual review ensures that [...]
Workplace Pensions and European Employees
Sunday, February 26th, 2012Pensions Minister Steve Webb announced a DWP consultation on 20 February 2012 which seeks to address an unnecessary auto-enrolment administration burden that may have risen unintentionally for dual-status employees. The Pensions Act 2008 imposes an obligation on employers to auto-enrol a ‘jobholder’ who works or ordinarily works in the UK under their contract. A 2003 [...]
State Pension Reform
Sunday, February 26th, 2012In the 2011 Budget, the Government expressed the view that the State Pension system is too complex, making it difficult for working-age individuals to determine what they might receive from the State, in particular from the State Second Pension. Subsequently, in April 2011, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) published a consultation document presenting [...]
DWP – New Timetable Clarifies Auto Enrolment Dates
Monday, February 6th, 2012The Employers’ Duties (Implementation) Regulations 2010 provides how the auto-enrolment responsibilities under the Pensions Act 2008 will apply to employers. Specifically, it outlines the auto-enrolment staging dates. On 25 January 2012, the DWP published a revised timetable of staging dates for auto-enrolment. This was not altogether unexpected, given their announcement in November that the dates [...]
Auto-Enrolment 1 – Software Developers urged to Share Payroll Information
Monday, January 9th, 2012On 26 November 2008, the Pensions Bill was granted the necessary Royal Assent to form the Pensions Act 2008. This provided the legislative framework, , i.e. the starting point for the introduction of auto-enrolment – the automatic enrolment of qualifying workers into compulsory employer pension schemes. From October 2012, the largest employers with over 3,000 employees [...]
Auto-Enrolment 2 – Consultation re Earnings Trigger and Earnings Band
Monday, January 9th, 2012These are two terms which require a brief recap: The Earnings Trigger is the level of earnings, at which, when reached by the employee, the employer is obliged to consider auto-enrolment into a qualifying pension scheme The Qualifying Earnings Band is the band of earnings on which the employee and employer will pay pension contributions [...]
Auto-Enrolment 3 – The Auto Enrolment Postponement Period
Monday, January 9th, 2012As discussed briefly above, auto-enrolment is required when jobholders’ earnings reach the Earnings Trigger. One issue that has been uppermost in professionals’ minds has been the issue of workers with fluctuating earnings. The employee is usually earning below the trigger, however, for one reason or another, exceeds it in one week or month – for [...]
Abolition of Contracting-Out on a Defined Contribution Basis
Sunday, January 8th, 2012We have published this information before; however, the start of 2012 is a good time to repeat this as a reminder. Contracting-out of the State Second Pension (S2P) on a DC basis will be abolished from 06 April 2012. Contracting-out of the State scheme on a Salary-Related basis (COSR) is not affected. This has the [...]
Auto-enrolment Delay
Friday, December 2nd, 2011Pensions Minister Steve Webb has confirmed that the Government is delaying pensions auto-enrolment for companies with 49 employees, or less. The original staging date, as outlined in the Employers’ Duties (Implementation) Regulations 2010, was to commence in April 2014, with all employers eventually being live in the scheme from 01 September 2016. However, the April [...]
Pensions Act 2011
Friday, November 11th, 2011The recently-enacted Pensions Bill gave us the Pensions Act 2011. Pensions will, undoubtedly, give us increased administration in the very near future, however, for payroll purposes, what does the Act give us that we did not already know? The key issues of the five main Parts of the Act are discussed below: Part 1 – [...]
Pensions Bill 2011 Receives Royal Assent
Sunday, November 6th, 2011The Pensions Bill 2011 has completed its parliamentary stages in both Houses and was granted Assent by the Queen on 03 November 2011. We can now refer to this legislation as the Pensions Act 2011. Together with RTI, the provisions in the Pension Act will undoubtedly involve increased administration for employers. There are a number of areas [...]
Changes to State Pension Age
Sunday, October 23rd, 2011The Government announced last week that it had decided to delay the State Pension Age increase from 65 to 66 by 6 months for both men and women. The pension age for women will still increase to 65 by 2018, as planned, however, the increase to 66 for both sexes will be put back 6 months to [...]
Increase to State Pension Age Delayed
Thursday, October 13th, 2011The Government has announced that its plans to increase the State pension age to 66 is to be delayed. This is with the prime aim of helping women who would be most affected by the rise. From April 2010, the womens’ pension age has already been increasing from 60 to 65. The current Pensions Bill proposes that this increase [...]
Abolition of contracting-out on a defined contribution basis
Monday, September 12th, 2011HMRC gives further information on the impact of abolition from April 2012. From April 2012, all contracted-out “defined contribution” (DC) pension schemes will revert to “not contracted-out” schemes and, depending on their earnings levels, employees in such schemes will start to accrue pension benefits under the State Second Pension scheme. Schemes that are “defined contribution” [...]
New online interactive tools for automatic enrolment
Monday, August 8th, 2011The Pensions Regulator has released four interactive tools to help smaller businesses begin preparing for automatic enrolment. The Pensions Regulator is the UK regulator of work-based pension schemes and, in addition to protecting the interests of scheme members, it has statutory responsibility for maximising employer compliance with their duties in connection with auto-enrolment from 2012. [...]
Consultation on final changes to automatic enrolment legislation
Monday, July 25th, 2011The Government is consulting on implementation of changes recommended by the independent Making Automatic Enrolment Work (MAEW) Review, and on some minor amendments to ensure that legislation correctly expresses pension policy. A number of changes to the legislation governing automatic pension scheme enrolment from October 2012 were recommended in 2010 by the Making Automatic Enrolment [...]
DWP publishes its own workplace pensions language guide
Monday, July 25th, 2011DWP research suggests the best words to use when explaining how auto-enrolment…, sorry, automatic enrolment will work… In January 2011, the NEST Corporation published a phrasebook that was intended to put unfamiliar pension terms and expressions into more readily understandable English. The Department for Work and Pensions has now published its own language guide, which [...]
Commons Select Committee inquiry into automatic enrolment pensions
Sunday, July 17th, 2011The Work and Pensions Committee has announced an inquiry into automatic enrolment in workplace pensions and NEST. The role of Commons Select Committees is to consider government policy issues, scrutinise the work and expenditure of government, and examine proposals for primary and secondary legislation. The Work and Pensions Committee has announced an investigation into the [...]
P11D Working Sheets, qualifying childcare, tax simplification, NEST, credit card fees, 0T legislated, SMP compensation rate, Worker Registration Scheme, P60s, and so many forum questions.
Friday, March 18th, 2011This week we are back to normal with (too) many news items. Of particular interest and importance are the two reports from the Office of Tax Simplification, which resurrect a number of proposals from earlier years, some of which may well find their way into the coming Budget. The PAYE Regulations have been updated with [...]
