Automatic Enrolment
What is it?
‘Workplace
pensions’ law has changed. The government has introduced a new law to make it
easier for people to save for their retirement.
It requires all employers to enrol their workers into a qualifying
workplace scheme if they are not already in one. At present, many workers fail to take up
valuable pension benefits because they do not make an application to join their
employer's scheme. Automatic enrolment
is meant to overcome this.
More details
available under
Below given a
quick summary about Auto Enrolment for Employee, Employer and Oracle-PeopleSoft
Customer.
For Employees
If employee joins a money purchase (defined
contribution) scheme, employee will have their own pension pot which will be open
upon retirement. Contributions from employee,
employer and government will be paid into employee’s pot. Employee can retain the same pot even if they
move jobs.
Scheme, pension
pot, qualify, defined contribution - What is it?
A qualifying scheme can be:
·
A defined contribution scheme with a minimum contribution
Or
·
A defined benefit or hybrid scheme which meets certain conditions.
Sample calculation for employees with TIER 1
scheme:
Each month*,
Employer
puts in pension pot
|
£30
|
+
Employee put in pension pot
|
£40
|
+
the government puts in pension pot
|
£10
(tax relief)
|
Total available in pension pot
|
£80
|
* Scheme
will be set by the employer. Please contact the employer for the qualifying
scheme.
Does this affect me (employee)?
Yes, employees
will be automatically enrolled to the scheme, if employee,
·
Is not already in a qualifying workplace pension
scheme;
·
Is at least 22 years old;
·
Is below state pension age;
·
Earn more than £8,105 a year; and
·
Work or ordinarily work in the UK (under their
contract)
Even if employee doesn’t qualify automatically, employee
has the right to join the scheme. Options are
available for employee to optout and/or rejoin the scheme.
Note for employee: DONOT misinterpret this post/document as an enforcement to
challenge the organization. Please speak to your organization for more details.
For Employers
Is it applicable for my organization?
Yes. Although
automatic enrolment comes in from 1 October 2012, individual employers' duties
will be introduced gradually over the following five years, and will be based
on the employer's size.
List of staging dates by PAYE scheme size or
reference
PAYE scheme size or reference
|
Staging date
|
120,000 or
more
|
1 October
2012
|
50,000-119,999
|
1 November
2012
|
30,000-49,999
|
1 January
2013
|
20,000-29,999
|
1 February
2013
|
10,000-19,999
|
1 March
2013
|
6,000-9,999
|
1 April
2013
|
4,100-5,999
|
1 May 2013
|
…
|
…
|
Complete and latest list will be available at,
Who (my employees) will be affected?
Qualified
employees who meets the eligibility criteria,
Also, employees have the right to join the scheme
even if they do not qualify automatically.
What should I
do now?
So the employers should enrol to the pension
regulator or pension provider to meet their new workplace pension duties.
If you (employer) are using PeopleSoft as the UK
HR/Payroll solution, then you need to ensure that your system is capable of
handling Automatic Enrolment.
What Oracle has offered for Auto Enrolment?
For Oracle-PeopleSoft
customers, Oracle is fully committed to the delivery of Auto Enrolment Packages
for version 9.0 and 9.1. Oracle-PeopleSoft Release for ‘UK Pension Changes- Auto
Enrolment’ is available under,
For customers on other PeopleSoft version, Oracle
would be the best source of information about the auto enrolment package.
What we (Kovaion Consulting) can offer for Auto Enrolment?
We (Kovaion
Consulting) can certainly assist the PeopleSoft customers on the implementation
and support of Auto Enrolment.
Design
ü It includes, deployment of Auto Enrolment related bundle/POC
delivered by Oracle. Based on the PeopleSoft release, the deliverables from
Oracle will vary.
ü Map the tailor made current system to fit Auto Enrolment process.
ü Identify potential gap and do the fit gap analysis.
Develop
ü Develop necessary technical components
Test
ü End to End process testing.
ü Performance testing – This is very critical for mission
critical application like payroll.
Rollout
ü Production Deployment
Support
ü Warranty support includes 30 days of production support cover
ü Additional long term support shall also be provided
Since the implementation effort depends on the pension provider, it would be difficult to provide the implementation efforts. But certainly feel free to get in touch with us to evaluate the options.
Quick read
through on Oracle-PeopleSoft Deliverable
Under the
reforms, employers will take on a number of new pension duties:
•
Provide a qualifying pension scheme
• Automatically enroll Eligible Jobholders, who are
not already members of a qualifying pension scheme
•
Inform eligible jobholders that they have been
automatically enrolled and that they have the right to opt out
•
Respond to opt-out requests appropriately
•
Deduct member contributions and make employer
contributions,
•
Periodically re-enroll any eligible jobholders
who have opted-out
•
Keep records in relation to each qualifying
pension scheme and each jobholder
•
Report regularly to the Pension Regulator
Disclaimer: This document/post is for
reference only. The points discussed are purely based on our understanding.
Please check the links and regulatory websites for updated information.