Pensions: Don’t forget to re-enrol!

Did you know that every 3 years you must put certain staff back into your pension scheme if they’ve left it? This is called re-enrolment, and it is an important part of your duties as an employer. Additionally, you need to go through this process EVEN IF you haven’t got any staff to re-enrol!

 

Every three years you must complete a re-declaration of compliance to show that you have met your duties in relation to your pension scheme. This is a legal requirement, and carries a fine for non-compliance.

Your re-enrolment date falls in the three months either side of the third anniversary of your start date. So for employers who started their duties on 1^st November 2018, their enrolment period would be 1 June to 30^th September 2021. The employer must have the same re-enrolment date for all the staff that they have to re-enrol.

You are required to re-enrol workers who’ve previously stopped making contributions or have opted out, unless this happened within 12 months of the re-enrolment deadline. Obviously you don’t have to re-enrol anyone who has given in their notice, or who you have dismissed! Some workers have protection from the lifetime allowance and therefore do not need to be re-enrolled.

Your legal duty is to write to each worker who you have put back into the scheme within 6 weeks after your re-enrolment date. You also have a legal duty to complete your re-declaration of compliance within five months of the anniversary of your duties start date.

 

If everything in this blog made you want to cry, don’t forget that you can outsource your pension responsibilities to our Payroll department. They’ll ensure that re-enrolment is completed accurately and at the right time. Give them a call today!