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Essential Questions to ask your Payroll Software Provider
How to choose a quality scheme and not get
lost trying to navigate the auto-enrolment jungle
By Paul Byrne
By Griselda Williams
By Paul Byrne
Essential Questions to ask
your Payroll Software Provider
By Griselda Williams
How to choose a quality scheme
and not get lost trying to navigate
the auto enrolment jungle
Q&A Session
Questions Tab or #BPWebinars
Competition
Two BrightPay 2015/16 bureau licences
On Demand
This session is being recordedREC
Q&A
WIN
Essential Questions to ask your
Payroll Software Provider
• Accountancy Practice for 20 Years
• Payroll software development
• Expanded into the UK – BrightPay & Bright
Contracts
• 80,000 employers across the UK & Ireland
use our products
Paul Byrne
• Assessing employees
• Option of postponement
• Handling opt-outs and refunds
• Supporting employee communications
• Recording and reporting
• Integration with pension providers
• Hidden charges
Agenda
Assessing Employees
Assessing Employees
Eligible Jobholders
• Aged between 22 and State Pension age
• Earn more that £10,000 per year
• Work, or ordinarily work, in the UK
Assessing Employees
Entitled Workers
Non Eligible Jobholders
Eligible Jobholders
Assessing Employees
Assessing Employees
• Manual employee assessment – time consuming & monotonous
• A key feature in payroll software is the ability to assess employees
automatically
• Ongoing basis – assess employees without user intervention
• Enrolling employees should be quick and seamless
• Batch processing – allow you to enrol multiple employees at the
same time
Option of Postponement
Option of Postponement
• Option to postpone for up to 3 months
– Temporary rise in earnings
– Align assessment dates
– Contractual workers
• Six weeks to issue communications
• Deferral date – reassess and enrol if
necessary
Option of Postponement
• Payroll software must be able to
handle postponement
• Choose a deferral date within 3
months of the staging date
• Notifications when deferral date is
reached
• Postponement communications
Handling Opt-Outs & Refunds
Opt-out’s & Refunds
• The decision must be made by the employee
• Must opt out within opt-out period, which is one month from:
– when active membership is created
– from when they receive your letter with the enrolment
information
• Otherwise they are ‘ceasing active membership’
Opt-out’s & Refunds
• If an opt-out request is received, you must stop deductions and
arrange a full refund
• Usually the refund will be processed in the next payroll after you
get the opt-out notice
• The refund of contributions will depend on the individual pension
scheme
• Payroll software must be able to process opt-out requests for an
employee and refund any contributions
Employee Communications
Employee Communications
• Write to all employees – how auto enrolment applies to them
• This must be done in writing and within six weeks of the staging
date
• Different information needs to be communicated with each of
the employee categories
• Right person, right information, right time
Employee Communications
• Eligible jobholders:
– Explain that they have been enrolled
– Provide details of the pension scheme you’ve chosen for them
– Contribution amounts
– Have the right to opt out if they wish to do so
Employee Communications
• Non-eligible jobholders:
– Have a right to opt-in to the pension scheme
– Explain how automatic enrolment applies to them
• Entitled workers:
– Have a right to join a pension scheme
– Explain how automatic enrolment applies to them
Employee Communications
• Postponement communications
• Inform staff that they have been postponed and that they will be
re-assessed on the deferral date
• Explain that they will be enrolled on this date if they meet the
relevant criteria
• Must be sent to all staff within 6 weeks of staging date
• If this communication is not sent, postponement is void
Employee Communications
• It’s useful to send communications around the same time as you
submit the pension file
• If the pension provider does not have record of the employee it
will make opting out difficult
• Your payroll software should be able to produce the required
employee communications for you.
• If the pension scheme is handling the communications, payroll
software should allow you to turn off communications reminders
Record Keeping and Reporting
Record Keeping & Reporting
• You must keep record of the following:
– records about jobholders and workers
– gross qualifying earnings in each pay period
– employer contributions payable in each pay period
– the total amount payable in each pay period
– any opt-in, joining or opt-out notices
– copies of any postponement notices
– records about the pension scheme
Record Keeping & Reporting
• You must keep these records for six years and opt-out notices for
four years
• Existing business documentation for collecting and storing
records
• Notices must be retained in the original format
• They may authorise the third party to keep, preserve or provide
the records on their behalf
Record Keeping & Reporting
• Ask your payroll software provider
about reporting features
• Useful way to access historic data
• Flexible reporting - customise your
own reports
Integration with Pension Providers
Integration with Pension Providers
• Key consideration when choosing a payroll software package
• Ensure your chosen pension provider is catered for in the payroll
software
• This allows you to prepare enrolment and contribution files in the
correct format for the chosen pension provider
Integration with Pension Providers
• Ensure payroll software has NEST integration – submit files directly
from the software, reducing time and workload
• In BrightPay, this will work very similarly to RTI where submissions
are made directly from the software
Hidden Costs
Hidden Costs
• Beware of hidden costs
• Some payroll software providers charge for:
– AE Functionality
– Additional Employees
– Support
• Be aware of all charges that may be incurred
Automate & Streamline AE Tasks
Automate & Streamline AE Tasks
• Payroll software will play a key role in ensuring the success of AE
• Without appropriate tools, bureaus will need additional time and
resources to cope with auto enrolment
• Check with your payroll software provider to establish how it
handles automatic enrolment
• Test the software well ahead of your staging date
Automate & Streamline AE Tasks
• BrightPay – an integrated payroll and auto enrolment software
solution
• Allows you to streamline AE tasks, saving you both time and
money
• Designed to take all of the grunt work out of AE
• Makes the AE process effortless and uncomplicated for small
business owners and bureaus alike
How BrightPay Handles Auto Enrolment
* Offer applies to new customers who switch to BrightPay from another payroll software provider for the first year subscription
only. This offer applies to BrightPay 2015/16 bureau licence only and does not work in conjunction with any other offer.
Essential Questions
Does Your Payroll Software...
Assess your workforce
Allow the use of postponement
Automate employee communications
Calculate pension contributions
Handle opt-ins and joining’s
Handle opt-outs and refunds
Notify you when actions need to be
taken
Keep records and provide reports
Integrate with various pension
providers
By Griselda Williams
How to choose a quality scheme
and not get lost trying to navigate
the auto enrolment jungle.
http://bit.ly/1H30vPA http://bit.ly/1KAZfa4 http://bit.ly/1xJEJsG
Tuesday 16th February @ 11.00 am
https://www.brightpay.co.uk/events/1039/
CPD Accredited:
Auto Enrolment Training for Payroll Bureaus
By Paul Byrne & Victoria Clarke
99.3%Customer
satisfaction rate
99.5%Describe interface as
user friendly
98.8%Would recommend
BrightPay
98.5% Satisfied with
Customer Support
Accredited by ICB - Read here
“The BrightPay user interface is superb
and makes data capture painless.”
“The language used is easy to understand
and minimises the use of payroll jargon.“
Questions & Answers
