I was at an AE training event last night and was advised by the presenter that you are allowed to postpone employees from entering the pension more than once. The example given was that if a worker worked irregular hours and one month their hours peaked so that they became automatically enrolled, you could postpone this enrolment for this month, or subsequent months if they were likely to work excessive hours the following month. However, if this scenario repeated itself a few months down the line, you could repeat the postponement. Has anyone come across this before. It was not how I had initially interpreted the rules, but this was supposed to be an AE specialist.
Yes, I have also come across this - once at an AE seminar given by a pension provider and then again at a webinar given by The Pension Regulator (the later one giving it complete credibility to me)!
The one main thing the expert from TPR emphasised was that you cannot consecutively postpone, so if you postpone for 3 months and the same thing happens in month 4, you would have to enrol, however if they were below the threshold in month 4 and then tipped over again in month 5, you could postpone them again then. I have found it a useful mechanism for a client who employs staff to cover holiday periods, so I look at how long we want to postpone them depending on when they are likely to be next working, ie in April I only postponed for 1 month as I knew they would be back with us by July, and possibly in June.
Helen
-- Edited by Helz on Thursday 20th of October 2016 07:49:52 AM
Hi Helen
Many thanks for your reply. Thanks for clearing it up. It would be so much easier if the information in the rules was made clear when they are published. ð
It will make life easier with some of my clients though who have staff working very irregular hours.
Thanks again.
Debbie
Yes, I have also come across this - once at an AE seminar given by a pension provider and then again at a webinar given by The Pension Regulator (the later one giving it complete credibility to me)!
The one main thing the expert from TPR emphasised was that you cannot consecutively postpone, so if you postpone for 3 months and the same thing happens in month 4, you would have to enrol, however if they were below the threshold in month 4 and then tipped over again in month 5, you could postpone them again then. I have found it a useful mechanism for a client who employs staff to cover holiday periods, so I look at how long we want to postpone them depending on when they are likely to be next working, ie in April I only postponed for 1 month as I knew they would be back with us by July, and possibly in June.
Helen
-- Edited by Helz on Thursday 20th of October 2016 07:49:52 AM
Hi Helen
Have I got this right then? Employee is over threshold month 1 and 2 so you postpone, month 3 and 4 is under threshold. month 5 and 6 over threshold so you postpone again? How many times can you do this and can you do it for individual employees? My understanding when I attended a seminar was that if an employee hit £834 just once on any month they became eligible workers and they were automatically opted in.
My genning up starts next month, I've still got lots to learn I see.
Edited
-- Edited by Leger on Thursday 20th of October 2016 07:59:54 PM
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John
Any advice given is for general guidance and professional advice should be sought applicable to your circumstances.
Our AE was set up by an IFA but apart from the directors dealings with him as to what provider to use all subsequent dealings & setting up have been with the pension provider themselves which is the bit I've been involved with.
We had to set postponement details at the time of initially setting up the scheme with Royal London. Weekly paid staff were postponed for 3 weeks to keep them in line with monthly but all new employees will be postponed for 3 months. I was under the impression that we can't swop and change this and that the postponement begins from their first day of employment. We've got several earning under the limit (including myself) and as I was under the impression that if one of them earns over the limit from now on they are automatically enrolled unless they opt out within the specified time period.
Then again I did have to argue with the IFA & pension provider that they had misinterpreted the rules on percentage of payroll and pensionable pay percentages etc. (I was right they were wrong!)
Hi Pictures
Your interpretation was the same as mine, but I was told that you could repeatedly postpone individuals so long as it was a 'reasonable' length of time between postponements. I am however concerned by the element of 'reasonable time' as this is open to interpretation. I just wish the authorities would explain the rules correctly without leaving these grey areas. This in my mind could become a future area for insurance claims. Without clear guidance, who would be at fault
Hi Pictures Your interpretation was the same as mine, but I was told that you could repeatedly postpone individuals so long as it was a 'reasonable' length of time between postponements. I am however concerned by the element of 'reasonable time' as this is open to interpretation. I just wish the authorities would explain the rules correctly without leaving these grey areas. This in my mind could become a future area for insurance claims. Without clear guidance, who would be at fault
Hi Debbie
On reading your post I decided to dig deeper and I've come up with this
and http://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/docs/detailed-guidance-3a.pdf Check out page 17
If I've understood it correctly it does confirm what you've been told and what Helen has said. The only criteria I can see is that the postponement periods don't overlap.
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John
Any advice given is for general guidance and professional advice should be sought applicable to your circumstances.
Most the info is on TPR's website - some of it is very well hidden! - although John appears to have found it
Basically, there are three points at which postponement can be used:
Staging date
When an employee starts work
When an employee becomes eligible for AE
I make sure that for all my clients, they have given specific instructions as to when they would like postponement to be applied, and for what period of time. Obviously they can select different time frames at different points, ie 3 months for new starters, 1 month when eligible, depending on how they want their scheme to run.
The only time I have revisited this agreement is for the staff member I mentioned before, who was a mature university student who worked with my client during her holidays, and we knew would be an eligible jobholder some of the time. She specifically told us that she would rather not be enrolled when she received her first postponement (which was on starting work), and at that point I sat down with my client and we planned out how we would use postponement in this scenario. For this particular client, all new staff are postponed for 3 months, as the industry is one with a high turnover/drop out rate.
I'm comfortable that the paperwork I complete with my clients prior to their staging date, which they sign, covers me and makes it clear that I am following my clients instructions, not making decisions as I go along.
If you haven't already, I would suggest attending (is that the right word??) one of TPR's webinars - particularly the ones where you can ask questions, as you can ask them more information about this type of thing, however, from experience, they will repeatedly reiterate that obviously the decision maker is always the client, not the person operating the payroll, so the client is the one to make decisions about postponement etc.
The only time I have revisited this agreement is for the staff member I mentioned before, who was a mature university student who worked with my client during her holidays, and we knew would be an eligible jobholder some of the time. She specifically told us that she would rather not be enrolled when she received her first postponement (which was on starting work), and at that point I sat down with my client and we planned out how we would use postponement in this scenario. For this particular client, all new staff are postponed for 3 months, as the industry is one with a high turnover/drop out rate.
Hi Helen, just out of curiosity, and I don't know the answer to this, but would it have been better for this employee to opt out rather than postpone every time
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John
Any advice given is for general guidance and professional advice should be sought applicable to your circumstances.
From her perspective, no, as she would have had to do something!! Doing it this way avoided her having to do anything - & potentially losing money (her view) if she failed to opt out within the timescales - & made no difference to me, as I just had to send her a letter each time we postponed her and keep records accordingly. If we'd enrolled her, I would still have had to send her a letter (I find I send many letters now ) and then had to deal with her opt out once the pension company notified me if it.
So no difference to me work wise, but 'safer' from her point of view.
) and then had to deal with her opt out once the pension company notified me if it. 
