Ian Chapman-Curry
Legal Director
PSL legal director
Article
5
A series of amendments are being made to the auto-enrolment regime this month. With effect from today (1 April 2014), the second phase of amendments to the secondary legislation come into force and extend the deadlines for employers to comply with their employer duties from one month to six weeks.
The secondary legislation that sets out the detail on how workplace pension reform works was subject to two phases of amendment in the Automatic Enrolment (Miscellaneous Amendment) Regulations 2013.
The first phase (covering definition of pay reference periods, retention periods, opt out notices and test scheme standard for DB schemes) applied from 1 November 2013.
The second phase will apply from today. With effect from 1 April 2014, the deadlines for employers to provide:
are extended from one month to six weeks.
It is worth noting that the worker opt out period stays at one month.
The earnings figures used for worker assessment and calculating contributions under workplace pension reform are reviewed annually by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. The result of the review is usually announced in November / December of each year and will then take effect at the start of the following tax year.
The thresholds for 2014/15 will therefore apply with 6 April 2014 as follows:
These are the annual figures. In most cases, these will need to be broken down to the right pay reference period level. These have also been amended in line with the annual figures as follows:
Auto-enrolment earnings trigger | Lower limit of the qualifying earnings band | Upper limit of the qualifying earnings band | |
---|---|---|---|
Weekly | £192 | £111 | £805 |
Four weekly | £768 | £444 | £3,221 |
Monthly | 833 | £481 | £3,489 |
It is worth noting that the levels remain linked to the income tax earnings threshold and the lower and upper limits for National Insurance Contributions.
In addition, the government issued its response to consultation on the exemption of certain categories of workers from the scope of auto-enrolment.
This does not change any of the legislation, but does provide a useful summary of the current status of the Department for Work and Pension's thinking on the key issues surrounding worker assessment. The main takeaway points are:
Employers and pension scheme managers will need to consider the following action points:
CECI NE CONSTITUE PAS UN AVIS JURIDIQUE. L'information qui est présentée dans le site Web sous quelque forme que ce soit est fournie à titre informatif uniquement. Elle ne constitue pas un avis juridique et ne devrait pas être interprétée comme tel. Aucun utilisateur ne devrait prendre ou négliger de prendre des décisions en se fiant uniquement à ces renseignements, ni ignorer les conseils juridiques d'un professionnel ou tarder à consulter un professionnel sur la base de ce qu'il a lu dans ce site Web. Les professionnels de Gowling WLG seront heureux de discuter avec l'utilisateur des différentes options possibles concernant certaines questions juridiques précises.