The Pensions Regulator have confirmed that some employees aren’t correctly following the workplace pension rules for temporary workers, including seasonal staff.
If your business is hiring short-term employees, what steps do you need to take?
First, your auto-enrolment responsibilities are still a requirement for temporary staff, and if you are looking to take on additional personnel over a seasonal period you will need to think about registering all those you recruit to your workplace pension, even if they only are in your employ for a few days.
Forward planning will be essential as you have to consider that they may start and leave during a pay period, also their earnings and hours may differ from your regular employees.
One option that may help you avoid the hassle of workplace pensions for temporary workers is auto-enrolment postponement.
So what is auto-enrolment postponement?
If you are aware that the temporary worker will be in your employ for less than three months, you can choose to delay assessing them for your workplace pension. In order to use auto-enrolment postponement, you must apply it within six weeks from the employment start date. For any postponement you opt to do, you must also provide the employee with a written explanation to tell them you are doing so and what their workplace pension rights are.
Once the worker has been notified of your intention to apply an auto-enrolment postponement, and therefore you will not be automatically putting them into a pension scheme even if they have qualifying earning and are eligible, they can still ask to be included. If they make this request then you must enrol them in your workplace pension.
For workers with sporadic hours, their three month postponement period isn’t measured by the amount of time they have been in paid work under your employ, but from the date they start working for you, ending three months later.
Do not forget that The Pensions Regulator (TPR) can fine you for non-compliance and not following the auto-enrolment procedure. Therefore, if you are unsure of your responsibilities, and the options available to you, why not contact SFB Group to speak to our expert Payroll team. We can look after all your payroll needs so you can save time, reduce stress and concentrate on running your business knowing you’ll be fully compliant with The Pensions Regulator.
SFB’s Payroll Department are here to help you and your business. Contact us today on 03333 444 171 or enquiries@sfb.group.