I am pricing out a job which includes auto enrolment. Although i process auto enrolment each week, i havent had to set up from scratch. Has anyone set up the pension from the start? I will be using Sage with their add on package so there will be no need for me to caculate any deductions. It will literally be a case of setting up with a pension provider and letting the Sage software do the rest on a weekly basis.
Just seen your other post and just to clarify AE is covered under monseysoft, no need for an add on package. You say you are processing AE each week already - who set that up for you? My first staging isnt until 2016 so cant advise on specifics but one or two have done some - Georgia is one, if you search for her you will see she has provided quite a bit of background as to how she got on. There are a few other posts lurking also about fees. Presume I dont need to say about not being able to offer advice.
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Joanne
Winner of Bookkeeper of the Year 2015, 2016 & 2017
Thoughts are my own/not to be regarded as official advice,which should be sought from a suitably qualified Accountant.
You should check out answers with reference to the legal position
AE was set up by the accountant. I have had a chat with Now pensions today, and they have confirmed that there is very little involved. They have confirmed that i will not need to enter any employees details onto their website as the file transfer does that. They also send out all correspondance. Correspondance is via email rather than post, which in essence i could do.
I have set up my first AE from scratch. I am using People's Pension as my preferred provider, and I use BrightPay software for my payrolls (having managed to switch the last remaining one from Sage last month, hurrah!). You need to remember that the choice of pension provider is made by the employer, not the payroll operator!
AE is straightforward, as long as you understand what is required, and the employer can provide the necessary info, ie are they going to use postponement & if so, just at the beginning or for new starters too; are they making the minimum payments or something different (yes, I know the majority will be minimum, but you still have to ask....); are they having different worker groups. Letters have to be issued to the employees at staging, or when the start, so you will need to establish if the employer is doing that or if you are doing it as part of your process.
Other than that, the rest of the process is undertaken by the pension company once the file transfer has taken place, as they have told you. If the employer is undertaking the AE process, all you would do is transfer the data files to them each month from the payroll software, and obviously this (& the set up & letters etc) is what you can charge for as an additional service.
I had a very long chat with NOW pensions last week. They charge the employer £12.50 per month up to 4 employees and £25 per month for 5 employees plus, if using an accountant/payroll bureau. (£36 a month if direct) They do all the letters required but only once the employer signs up, which defeats the object slightly imo if you only have entitled workers, as you only know if you need a scheme once you have a response to the letters.
Peoples pension charge a one off £300 if through accountant/payroll bureau (£500 direct) and they don't do the letters.
Which leaves Nest. At present no charge but how long before they do? It's the quasi Government scheme so they may not, but I wouldn't be surprised if they do.
Now suggested I just stick to one provider, but my thoughts at the moment are to let the client know I operate the three above, let them choose, and if they want to use a different provider, charge an extra admin fee on top. I already know that most will just say they'll leave it with me but I know that I can't make a recommendation, nor would I want to.
Helen, I plan to stiick with Moneysoft, but how much extra time is taking in processing payroll with AE, that's the unknown factor at the moment.
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John
Any advice given is for general guidance and professional advice should be sought applicable to your circumstances.
I suspect all the payroll providers will be offering very similar services, and in all reality the payroll process with AE isn't hugely cumbersome, and, I believe, they are all looking to streamline it (automatic transfer of info, kind of like RTI) as soon as they can too, which will save on having to export the data and then upload it to the pension provider.
The other charge worth looking at is the management fees charged on each 'pot'. My employer who has already staged, has a fairly low paid work-force, so taking a salary of £18,500 and making minimum contributions, the annual management fees charged would be (roughly):
Nest - £5.32
NOW - £18.76
PP - £1.26
Considering the pot will have only reached the heady heights of just over £250, that makes quite a big difference. There are more providers now then there were when we were looking, but those were the three we looked at in detail as part of the employers decision making process.
