Auto Enrolment, Re-Enrolment and Re-Declaration of Compliance

Covid-19 has brought in so many different challenges for employers. Although the pandemic brought about different questions concerning auto-enrolment, the real question remains the same.

How do the employers go about re-enrolment and re-declaration obligations? They certainly have big questions that they need answers to. During every 3 years, all these employers are required to take care of a certain number of employees, and proactively make them a part of the auto-enrolment pension scheme.

They’re also required to tell the pension regulators that they’ve carried out the task smoothly. The entire process is called re-enrolment and re-declaration. Please note that the re-enrolment and re-declaration must be taken care of during every 3-year interval.

Let’s Dig Into Re-Enrolment

When it’s time for re-enrolment, employers have specific tasks to ensure compliance with pension auto-enrolment requirements. Here’s what needs to be done:

1. Identify Eligible Employees: Employers must assess their workforce to determine which employees need to be re-enrolled in the pension scheme. This includes employees who previously opted out or reduced contributions.
2. Notify Employees: Employers are required to inform staff members who have been re-enrolled. This communication should outline their new enrollment status and provide details on contributions and options.
3. Conduct a Thorough Assessment: Employers must analyze their workforce to identify:
   • Employees who left the pension scheme previously,
   • Employees who have reduced their contributions.

Eligibility Criteria for Automatic Enrolment

All staff members must be automatically re-enrolled if they meet the following conditions:

• Age: Between 22 and the state pension age.
• Income: Earning over £10,000 per year (equivalent to £833 per month or £192 per week).

If there’s a list of people that can be opted out, they’ll need to be re-enrolled. Make sure this list of people is put back into the pension scheme within 6 weeks of the re-enrolment date. If you manage to miss out on the date somehow, make sure that you’re done with it by the date your staff was assessed.

If you’ve got a list of employees who don’t want to be a member of the scheme, they can opt out of it entirely. Availing this scheme, or not being a part of it is something up to them entirely. But once the course of the scheme begins, they’re auto-enrolled in it.

The period starts from the date they’ve been enrolled in the scheme until the date they’re supposed to be re-enrolled. That’s the period for them to opt out of it. It is the duty of an employer, however, to make sure that all of its employees are part of the right scheme.

At some point and time when the staff has been re-enrolled, the employer must not forget to deduct the required amount from the pay and pay them over to the scheme with employer contribution as well.

Let’s Discuss Redeclaration

This one is the final step. The employee needs to make sure that the process of re-declaration of compliance is there. You’re supposed to do this even though how many employees have opted out of the pension scheme?

So what exactly is this re-declaration of compliance? The re-declaration of compliance is an online form that confirms to the pension regulators that the employer is done with all their legal obligations concerning auto-re-enrolment.

Make sure you’re done filing the re-declaration of compliance no later than 5 months from the date your duty started. This also applies to your staging date, as appropriate.