So, what is an Auto-Enrolment Pension?
Under Auto-Enrolment, an employee joins a qualifying pension, from which they can elect to opt out. Many businesses used the simplest pathway to ensure their compliance, as contribution rates initially totalled only 3%.
The minimum contribution rate for workplace pension schemes is now 8%.
That’s an increase of 5% of total qualifying earnings since they were introduced at 3% in 2012.
The choice of scheme was originally limited for larger, early staging employers. This means employers may be using a scheme that is not optimal for them or their employees.
The established and compliant ways by which contributions can be made are:
Relief at Source Pensions enable employees to contribute to their pension from their net (after-tax) pay. When contributions are made, the pension provider claims basic-rate tax relief (currently 20%) from HMRC on behalf of the employee and adds it to the pension pot. For example, for every £80 contributed, an additional £20 is added, making the total contribution £100. Higher-rate taxpayers can claim additional tax relief through their self-assessment tax return.
This method ensures that all taxpayers, including those who do not pay income tax, can benefit from tax relief on their pension contributions.
A Salary Sacrifice Pension is a scheme in which an employee agrees to reduce their gross salary in exchange for their employer making equivalent contributions to their pension. This arrangement allows contributions to be made from pre-tax income, resulting in immediate tax relief for the employee, as they only pay income tax on their reduced salary. The employee benefits from increased pension savings without a significant impact on their take-home pay. Additionally, both the employee and employer can save on National Insurance contributions, further enhancing the value of the pension contributions.
The employer’s NIC saving can be deployed as the employer chooses.
Each scheme reset reflects the client’s requirements and varies depending on scheme data. Assessing the value to an employer is achieved by simple data analysis. This can add profit directly to the bottom line of the employer.
As part of Pension Point’s process, a scheme audit will be provided to demonstrate due care has been taken in the selection and ongoing management of the existing and replacement scheme.
We help individuals and companies understand their pensions.
We will save your company up to 3% of your total payroll costs.
We ensure you are meeting your legal Auto-Enrolment responsibilities as an employer.
There is no initial cost for migrating over to the service and if you feel that Pension Point is not right for your company, there will be no further costs.
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