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With the various regulations that have been published it's hard to keep up and know which ones specifically apply to your company. If you have a question about auto-enrolment, why not ask our Expert who will be glad to answer it for you. Simply fill out the submission form below and we will publish your question and the answer on this website.

We have a large number of pensioners we pay through our company payroll on behalf of the pension scheme trustees. Will they be taken into account in setting my staging date?


Unfortunately yes. At this stage it looks like pensioners you pay will be included in calculating the size of your PAYE scheme, which determines your staging date.

We intend to use tier 1 “certification” with our DC pension scheme, i.e. total contributions are 9% of basic pay. However, the rules of the scheme allow members to reduce their contributions once a year. If contributions are reduced below 9%, can we still use certification?


Yes. To start with, members must be in the scheme at 9% total contributions. After that, if they opt down into a contribution rate that is less than 9%, they can be excluded from the certification process. You don’t generally need to do any other checks on them until your re-enrolment date, when you need to bring them back up to 9%.

Is it a requirement that the employer must send a letter to a member to say they are to be auto-enrolled, or can the communication be by e-mail?


The legal requirement is for information to be given “in writing”. This includes sending information by e-mail. Note, however, that the information has to be sent – it’s not enough just to point to an internal or external website where the information may appear.

I let employees flex the employer pension contribution for cash. Can I be fined for inducement to opt out?


Where the employer pension contribution is part of your flex package, this should not by itself be viewed as an inducement. It would only be viewed as inducement if there were other factors which meant that you were trying to influence employees into opting out. If the cost to you is the same – whether you provide the pension contribution or cash – then that’s reasonable evidence that it’s not inducement.

But there are some complications. For employees to flex down they must first be in the pension scheme at the minimum contribution. Secondly, employees have a right to opt in and receive the minimum contribution. If they do that, you may need to make sure that you can reduce future payments of the cash that has been taken as flex.

We are converting to LLP status and will have about 100 equity partners. Do they have to be automatically enrolled?


LLP equity partners are self-employed, and so the LLP does not have to enrol them. You will, of course, still have to enrol any employees (as opposed to equity partners) of the LLP.

I’m told that automatic enrolment applies to the following:

1. An agency worker if paid directly by us – otherwise it is for the agency to enrol them

2. Anyone paid a daily wage for casual work

Is this right?


Yes, in both of those scenarios the person is someone who should be enrolled, although it may depend on the actual circumstances. If you would like further information, it may be worth reading pages 6 to 9 of the Regulator’s guidance which go into a range of scenarios. To view the Regulator's guidance click here.

Can we impose a 3-month waiting period from our staging date or do we have to auto-enrol eligible jobholders at our staging date?


You can operate a deferral period of up to three months provided that you notify the affected employees of the deferral period within a month after the staging date. This means you could stagger enrolment for different parts of your workforce if you wanted to. Employees can though opt-in during that period so any systems have to be in place from the staging date.

Are non-executive directors deemed to be employees for the purposes of automatic enrolment?


No. Non-executive directors should not have a contract of employment with the company and should not be contracted to perform work or services personally (i.e. no contract of services either). Non-execs are an example of an office-holder, and office-holders are not normally workers for the purpose of the legislation.

An office-holder has no contract or service agreement in relation to his appointment, nor does he receive a salary or regular remuneration for his services. Examples of office-holders who are not normally workers include:

  • non-executive directors
  • company secretaries
  • board members of statutory bodies
  • trustees

However, you may need to examine the specific circumstances. Sometimes a person who appears to be an office-holder may also have a contract of service for part of his duties and will therefore be a worker in respect of those duties.

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Our guidance notes can be viewed or downloaded. As with most new legislation, details become available over time and many changes are made and published. Therefore these documents will keep you right up to date with latest developments.

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