As of 1st April 2017, employers (including recruiters) have been required to implement an auto-enrolment pension for all PAYE employees, with contributions from both employee and employer being placed into a specified pension fund each month. After an initial period of 12 weeks, employees with be automatically opted into the scheme, unless they have chosen to opt out in favour of their own scheme.
According to the most recent figures released by the government for the 2018/19 period, to be eligible for automatic opt-in for a pension scheme, a worker must be over the age of 22 and be earning over £10,000 each year. Those earning between £6,032 and £10,000 will not be automatically opted in, but can ask to be included in a pension scheme, and will be entitled to employer contributions. Those earning under £6,032 can also ask to be enrolled, but will not qualify for employer contributions.
Auto-enrolment for recruiters
For recruiters, these regulations pose a challenge; with many PAYE workers starting roles at various times, their three-month deferment period can be tricky to track, but also to communicate all necessary details and answer any queries from them.
In order to comply with legislation, it is vital that recruiters have a comprehensive process in place, to ensure that all necessary pension requirements are taken care of, and that workers are automatically enrolled as soon as the provisional three months is up.
Pension provision service
Having witnessed how difficult it can be for recruiters to balance those critical administrative requirements alongside their core recruitment responsibilities, we introduced our Zodeq 360 service.
Zodeq 360 takes care of a variety of administration tasks for recruiters, including pension provision service. This particular service will provide recruitment companies with the end to end management of their auto enrolment requirements, including all communication with workers, dealing with applicable refunds, and most importantly, ensuring recruiters are fully compliant at all times.
For more information on our pension provision service, or any of our Zodeq 360 services, please contact our friendly team today.