Automatic enrolment is a key duty for employers in the UK, and is regulated by The Pensions Regulator (TPR) to help employees save for their retirement, whereby all eligible employees are automatically enrolled into a pension scheme.
To ensure you're compliant with your automatic enrolment responsibilities, you can set up and process this in Access Payroll. To do this, follow the steps in each of the sections below.
Entering your staging date
To use the auto-enrolment functionality, you first need to enter your staging date.
Click System, then click Company.
Click the Pensions tab, then click Edit.
In the Staging Date for Automatic Enrolment field, enter your staging date.
Click Save.
Create a pension pay element
To automate pension deductions when you run the payroll, you need to create a new pay element, then, on the Pension tab, mark the payment as Qualifying Pension.
Set up automatic postponement for new starters
Your company may decide to automatically postpone automatic enrolment for new starters, for example, if you hire temporary staff or new starters need to complete a probation period. To do this, follow the steps below.
📌Note: The maximum postponement period you can apply is three months.
Click System, then click Configuration.
Click Pensions, then click Pension Defaults.
Click Edit, then select your default pension provider format.
Enter the number of months to postpone new starters for.
If required, select a pension pay element to be assigned during auto-enrolment.
Click Save.
Auto-enrolment
When you come to process auto-enrolment for the first time, you need to first assess your employees to check whether they're eligible, non-eligible, or entitled. These statuses are based on the employee's age and annual earnings.
Once you've entered and processed your employees' pay for the current period, to run your auto-enrolment assessments, follow the steps below.
⚠️Warning: Don't assign a pension pay element to any employees before you do this.
Click Employees, then click Pension.
Click Pension Control.
Click Update, then click Auto Enrolment.
Click Yes, then review the pension status for each employee.
If you didn't select a pay element to be auto-applied during auto-enrolment, you need to assign your pension pay element to all eligible employees.
Non-eligible and entitled employees can opt in to the pension, and eligible employees can opt out of the pension; however, you need to obtain written confirmation from the employee before you add or remove them from the pension scheme.