Auto-pension countdown ticking

18–12 months to auto-enrolment

-          Nom­i­nate the con­tact for cor­re­spon­dence from the Pen­sions Reg­u­la­tor.

-          Work out your stag­ing date; you can find it on the Pen­sions Regulator’s web­site.

-          Set up your auto-enrol­ment project team, includ­ing rep­re­sen­ta­tives from HR, pen­sions, pay­roll, finance and com­mu­ni­ca­tions.

-          Assess who in your organ­i­sa­tion needs to be auto­mat­i­cal­ly enrolled.

-          Engage a pen­sion advis­er if nec­es­sary.

-          Review what exist­ing pro­vi­sion you have for pen­sions and oth­er ben­e­fits.

12–9 months

-          Cal­cu­late the costs of auto-enrol­ment for your organ­i­sa­tion; decide on what sort of scheme to offer.

-          Decide on how auto-enrol­ment fits with­in your over­all reward strat­e­gy and the ben­e­fits phi­los­o­phy of your organ­i­sa­tion; con­sid­er how auto-enrol­ment will impact on oth­er ben­e­fits.

-          For­mu­late your strat­e­gy for man­ag­ing data; decide whether to use your exist­ing pay­roll provider, mid­dle­ware from a pen­sion provider, a third-par­ty data hub or a flex­i­ble ben­e­fits sys­tem.

-          Start train­ing rel­e­vant employ­ees, includ­ing pen­sion and pay­roll staff, and trustees if appro­pri­ate.

-          Con­sid­er your com­mu­ni­ca­tions strat­e­gy.

9–3 months

-          Finalise selec­tion of pen­sion provider.

-          Put your data man­age­ment strat­e­gy in place and cleanse data.

3 months to go

-          Test HR and pay­roll sys­tems with pen­sion provider.

-          Test record-keep­ing sys­tem.

-          Start ini­tial com­mu­ni­ca­tions to employ­ees.

-          Enrol eli­gi­ble staff in qual­i­fy­ing pen­sion scheme.

After auto-enrolment

-          Main­tain records of employ­ee con­tri­bu­tions, qual­i­fy­ing earn­ings and opt-outs.

-          Reg­is­ter with the Pen­sions Reg­u­la­tor.

-          Mon­i­tor pen­sion scheme on an ongo­ing basis to ensure it remains up to stan­dard.

-          Enrol new employ­ees after three months.

-          Every three years, re-enrol all employ­ees who opt­ed out, unless they did so with­in the last 12 months.

-          Increase con­tri­bu­tions in 2017 and 2018.