BlueSky plan to launch auto enrolment solution for employers

BlueSky is due to launch a complete auto enrolment solution for employers in conjunction with the BlueSky Pension Scheme.  BlueSky is the preferred choice for the majority of the electrical contracting industry and is dedicated to providing ongoing support in line with changes enforced by the Government.

The new service, operating under the ‘BlueSky’ brand will enable employers to satisfy all their auto enrolment requirements for a small fee assuming they are or plan to be a participating employer within the BlueSky Pension Scheme.

The Pension Reforms introduced by the Pensions Act 2008 contain a number of measures aimed at encouraging greater private pension saving. From 2012 all eligible workers, who are not already in a good quality qualifying workplace scheme, will be automatically enrolled into their employers’ pension scheme.

The overall aim of the government’s pension reform strategy is to get more people saving for retirement. All employers in the UK, small and large, will need to take action to comply with their new responsibilities under the Pensions Act 2008.

From 1 October 2012 (subject to the employer’s own introduction date), all eligible workers will have to be auto-enrolled into a qualifying pension scheme.

Employers responsibilities start from October 2012 and will be staged in over four years dependent on the number of employees the company has.

Staging dates

In December 2011, the Government announced changes to the first schedule of staging dates.

Employers are to be separated into 43 bands according to size. Large employers (based on PAYE data) become subject to auto-enrolment before small employers. Large employers with more than 120,000 employees will be required to auto-enrol jobholders by October 2012.

Originally, small employers (those with fewer than 50 employees) had to enrol employees from 1st April 2014.  The Government have now announced that they will not need to auto-enrol workers until after the start of the next parliament, which will be elected in May 2015. 

Employers with between 51 and 2,999 employees might also have their staging dates pushed back. The Government has not released further details yet, so it is not known which of these employers will definitely be affected.

Employers will have two main responsibilities:

• To automatically enrol all eligible jobholders into a pension scheme which meets certain criteria, and
• The total minimum contribution made to the pension scheme must eventually be 8% by 2017, with employers paying at least 3%.

Regulation ‒ The Pensions Regulator

Employers will have to ‘register’ (likely to be online) to tell the Pensions Regulator which pension scheme they’re using to comply with their duties.

All employers will have to comply with pensions reform legislation. The Pensions Regulator will monitor employers to make sure they comply with the legislation. Measures can be taken against employers or third parties where there has been a breach. These include the issue of a compliance notice or unpaid contributions notice, which, if not complied with, may be followed by the issue of a fixed or escalating penalty notice.

The BlueSky Pension Solution

BlueSky can help with the employers’ responsibilities to ensure employees are enrolled in the BlueSky Pension Scheme.

Our BlueSky Pension Solution programme comes with a guarantee that it will be updated in the run-up to 2012 (once the final Pension Reform legislation is enacted) to provide full compliance with the new ‘employer duties’ resulting from the 2008 Pensions Act; the main duties relate to the need for employers to auto-enrol all eligible employees into a Qualifying Workplace Pension Scheme and to maintain detailed records of compliance for at least six years.

BlueSky already has 23 years of experience in administering pension arrangements for the electrical industry and is keen on extending this offering.

Our team will be delighted to discuss your needs and work out what is the most suitable and cost effective way to manage the auto enrolment requirements and workplace pension obligations within your business. So, to help ensure that you meet all the requirements pre and post your company’s staging date (auto enrolment activation date) without additional distraction and stress but with confidence and assurance, contact the BlueSky Team now.

Contacts:

Mr Paul Bannister

Chief Executive Officer

[email protected]

Direct Line: 0208 269 8531

Mobile:  0770 319 3486

Mrs Josephine Jackson

Executive Assistant

Direct Line: 0208 269 8533

[email protected]

Miss Jessica Battersby

Pensions Delivery Manager

[email protected]

Direct Line: 0208 269 8532

Mobile:  0770 319 3487

BlueSky Administration Team: 0333 321 8210

BlueSky Operations Team: 0333 321 8211