Communication with Clients
Many communication options are available to your clients regarding their automatic enrollment duties. Some methods may not be right for all clients or situations. Different marketing messages can have different responses from clients. It might be beneficial to use multiple communication channels to get the best results. You could, for example, send three emails and letters to your clients six months before their stage. You should follow up by calling your clients and giving them a personal touch.
Planning
Every employer in the UK is subject to auto-enrolment, even if there are no job applicants. Auto-enrolment can be difficult for all organizations, no matter how large or small, particularly when considering the micro and small employer markets. Employers are also being penalized for failing to meet their staging dates. Planning is key to your success. It is smart to set goals for your clients and help them navigate AE’s various stages.
Miscalculations
AE is crucial in assessing each employee’s worker classification and calculating the contributions or deductions. You must ensure that each employee’s information is correct, including their age and qualifying earnings. The assessments should be completed automatically by your payroll software. Payroll software should automate all contributions and deductions for each pay period to avoid errors.
Setup of a Pension Scheme
Setting up a pension plan can be time-consuming for you and your client. Many accountants don’t give their clients enough time to choose and prepare for setting up a pension plan. Your client must do their research to find the best pension plan for their company and employees.
Human Resources
About half a million micro and small employers will reach their staging dates this year. It is important to verify the staging dates of clients to whom you offer payroll services. This will allow you to determine if additional staff resources are needed to manage each client. You should not need additional staff if you have good payroll tools.
Payroll Compatibility
Every auto-enrolment pension provider will require that their pension data be sent in a specific and unique format. Your payroll will prepare your contributions to file according to the format required by the major pension providers. You can check which pension providers are compatible with your payroll software. API tools can be useful to speed up the AE process. APIs are integration features that allow pension and payroll to communicate directly. NEST has released API tools that allow you to validate setup information, approve payments, and submit your pension file data directly from the payroll. Make sure your payroll has API features that link to pension.
Price
You may need to include costs to cover the cost of any software investment to enable automatic enrollment. Some software providers charge extra for AE modules or add-ons. Your profits will be impacted if you pay extra for AE functionality. Payroll software should include auto-enrolment functionality as a free feature.
Declaration of Compliance
Employers often fail to comply with all the mandatory enrolment requirements. Discuss this with your client. To make sure you submit the declaration on time, mark the declaration deadline in the calendar.
Directors Only Companies
Solo directors without employees are not eligible for automatic enrolment. Some of these companies believe they don’t have to do anything. You must understand that AE may not apply to your situation. It would be best if you informed the Pensions Regulator. The Pensions Regulator has more information about director-only companies.
Postponement
Employers believe that if they postpone employees for three months at their staging dates, there is no need to do anything in that period. However, this is incorrect as employees must be informed within six weeks of their staging date for pensions that they have been delayed and when they will be reassessed. This communication must be received within 6 weeks of the staging date. If it is not, the postponement will be considered a failure, and enrolment must take place retrospectively to the staging day.
