Automatic enrolment is a key duty for employers in the UK, and is regulated by The Pensions Regulator (TPR) to help employees save for their retirement, whereby all eligible employees are automatically enrolled into a pension scheme.
To ensure you're compliant with your automatic enrolment responsibilities, you can set up and process this in SelectPay. To do this, follow the steps in each of the sections below.
Entering your staging date
To use the auto enrolment functionality in SelectPay, you first need to enter your staging date.
📌Note: If you don't know your staging date, you can find it on the TPR website.
Click System then click Company Details.
Click the Pensions tab.
In the Staging Date for Automatic Enrolment field, enter your staging date.
Click Save & Close.
Create a pension pay element
To automate pension deductions when you run the payroll, you need to create a new pay element, then, on the Pension tab, mark the payment as Qualifying Pension.
Set up automatic postponement for new starters
Your company may decide to automatically postpone automatic enrolment for new starters, for example, if you hire temporary staff or new starters need to complete a probation period.
To do this in SelectPay, follow the steps below.
📌Note: The maximum postponement period you can apply is three months.
Click System then click Company Details.
Click the Pensions tab then enter the number months to postpone for.
Click Save & Close.
Auto enrolment assessment
When you come to process auto enrolment for the first time, you need to first assess your employees to check whether they're eligible, non-eligible, or entitled. These statuses are based on the employee's age and annual earnings.
Once you've entered and processed your employees' pay for the current period, to run your auto enrolment assessments, follow the steps below.
⚠️Warning: You must not assign a pension pay element to any employees before you do this.
Click Pension, then click Pension Wizard.
Select Auto Enrol, then review the pension status for each employee.
Click Next, then click Finish.
Once you've done this, you need to assign your pension pay element to all eligible employees.
Non-eligible and entitled employees can opt in to the pension, and eligible employees can opt out of the pension; however, you need to obtain written confirmation from the employee before you add or remove them from the pension scheme in SelectPay.
📌Note: If you'd prefer to run your assessment manually, you can do this via the Auto Enrol option within Pension Control.
Auto enrolment in payroll processing
Once you've completed your initial auto enrolment assessment and assigned the pension pay element to the relevant employees, their contributions are calculated automatically when you run payroll.
However, you may occasionally see a message prompting auto enrolment actions. This can happen when you need to assess a new employee or reassess an existing one, for example, if their pay has increased or they’ve reached an age that makes them eligible.
When this happens, follow the steps below.
Highlight all employees listed. Only employees with actions appear here.
Click Auto Enrol, then complete the Auto Enrolment wizard.
If required, set any postponement dates.
Highlight all employees with the eligible status, then click Assign Pay Elements.
Assign the relevant pension pay element and default contributions.
Close the Pension Control screen, then make any necessary changes, such as:
Assign the earnings pay element for a salary sacrifice pension.
Amend the contribution amount for employees who want to increase their contribution.
Manually override contributions, for example, if you need to backdate contributions for a previous period.
Finalise the payroll as normal.