Employers responsibilities when providing pensions

What are your ongoing duties as an employer?

Every time you pay your employees, you should do the following:

Monitor Earnings and Ages of Staff You’ve Employed

If you have employees under you, it is important to check their age, earnings and also, if you must add anyone to your pension scheme. If you do add someone, you must let him or her know that in six weeks or less and make sure they fall under the age and earnings requirement.

In case any of your staff are:

Aged 22 and up to state pension age*
Earn more than £10,000/ year, or £833/ month or, £192/week… you have to add them to your pension plan and both have to pay for it.

*To know the state pension age use State Pension Calculator.

How to Handle Requests to Exit or Join Your Scheme?

In case your employees request to join your scheme or write to you requesting it, you have to add them in a month timeframe or less.

You have to pay for the pension scheme unless:

They’re between 16 – 74 years
They earn below £486 or £112/ week.

If your employees request to leave the scheme, you must remove their name within a month from the request and refund whatever has been reduced from their pay towards paying for the scheme.

Maintain records

You have to maintain records for your legal duties, which includes:

Addresses and names for those you’ve added to the pension scheme.
Records for the money you’ve paid towards the scheme.
Requests you receive for joining or leaving the scheme.
Registry or reference number for your pension scheme.

Also, you have to hold these records for at least six years, except for requests for leaving the pension scheme, which you must hold for four years.

Automatic re-enrolment

In case your staff fulfil pension scheme requirements and have left it, they’ll be added or re-enrolled automatically every three years. However, you will be updated before this re-enrolment is done.