If you need HELP and PROFESSIONAL ADVICE in getting your Workplace Pension Scheme in place Opus Gold Finance can help you. We have reduced our fees for SME’s from £2,500 to £1,500 for companies that want help in setting this up. This £1,000 saving is available for a limited time only!

The basic information

• Auto Enrolment is the Governments latest attempt to address the shortfall in UK pension savings.
• Work is on-going to introduce a number of changes to UK pension planning. There are three fundamental changes proposed.
• There is likely to be a ‘flat rate’ state pension, eradicating the need for means tested benefits.
• The state pension will start to be paid later in life.
• The introduction of Auto-Enrolment legislation, which will be the first phase to come into place, is summarised below.
• Auto-Enrolment legislation means that all employees will be auto-enrolled into a work place pension scheme from 2012 onwards.

The new employer responsibilities are as follows:

• the auto-enrolment of working individuals into a pension scheme, and
• compulsory pension contributions by employers and employees

Auto-enrolment means that an individual is automatically enrolled into their company’s qualifying pension scheme without any action on their part. Under the legislation, this will become a legal requirement for all UK employers.

Employers can choose to auto-enrol jobholders into a qualifying auto-enrolment private pension scheme or into the government’s scheme (NEST).
The total minimum pension contribution that needs to be paid into a scheme is 8% of qualifying earnings (band earnings up to a maximum amount), with the employer needing to contribute at least 3%. Please note that qualifying earnings differ from many current employers calculation of pensionable earnings, as it includes ALL earnings not just basic pay.

• All employers must register their qualifying pension with The Pensions Regulator (TPR) within four months of their Staging Date.
• All employees must be notified by their employer with details of the pension.
• Employees will be able to opt out of the scheme, but if they do, the employer will then need to re-enrol them back into the scheme every 3 years.