Automatic Enrollment, or AE, has been around for nearly half a decade and isn’t likely to go anywhere any time soon. Automatic Enrollment is the UK government initiative that informs employers of their responsibility to help employees save for the day of retirement.
If Franco is to be in compliance with automatic enrollment regulations, then he has to know who is eligible to opt-in to the AE scheme. In Franco’s department, he has 30 team members. Everyone who is between 22 years of age and state pension age, who earns more than 833 pounds each month, and who is working in the UK is eligible to opt-in to the program.
Since 2012, AE has been rolling out to larger businesses but is now being made available to smaller business owners as well.
The Pensions Regulator informs all UK businesses of their staging dates depending on two factors:
- when the business was started
- how many employees the company has
So, what does Franco need to be aware of as auto-enrollment becomes business as usual?
Well, there are two primary areas to look at when looking to enroll team members into a pension program:
- Increase in contributions…
Employers must consider the investment value inherent in workplace pensions. The more money a business makes, the more money employees can receive when they retire. - Re-enrollment…
Every 2 years, employers are expected to place certain team members into a pension program. These tasks are on-going and may force employers to reconsider their current software solutions.
Re-enrollment requires a number of decisions to be made and a number of departments and executives to be involved in the process. Nevertheless, on a larger scale, re-enrollment can take on four paths:
- Identifying when to engage in the re-enrollment process
- Identifying the staff needed to enroll
- Completing the re-enrollment process
- Declaring compliance with The Pension Regulator
Taking these four steps into consideration, it might be a good idea to ensure standard project management tools and processes are used for scheduling and communication in order to ensure successful re-enrollment of individuals in the pension program.
If you would like to know more about the legal duty of automatic enrollment and re-enrollment, click the link below for more information.
