Since the commencement of the auto-enrolment process all employers had been given a pre-defined staging date. September 2017 presents the last month of this stage, with the last staging date given to the remaining employers yet to auto-enrol, of 1st February 2018.
Overnight on the 30th September 2017, the auto-enrolment rules change from giving employers a set staging date in the future to plan for, to instead from the 1st October 2017 all employers will have an immediate obligation.
This presents an oddity in the rules – new employers from 1 October 2017-31 January 2018 have an earlier obligation under auto-enrolment (immediate) than employers employing staff for the first time from now until 30 September 2017, whom have until 1st February 2018.
What does this difference mean?
5 months of pensions contributions and extra time for the additional administrative burden for setting up the pensions scheme is invaluable to any company.
There may be cases where staff have been given a start date of 1 October 2017, because it is considered easier for payroll purposes without consideration for this anomaly.
So now is the time to consider carefully whether there are any employees start dates that can be moved forwards by that 1 day – what a difference that day will make.
Should you require more information or assistance in setting up a pensions scheme please contact our Menzies MWM specialist Chris Ellis on cellis@menzieswm.co.uk or call 020 7387 5868.
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