Overview
To enable people to save more towards their retirement, The Pensions Act 2012 requires employers to enrol their workers into a Workplace Pension Scheme.
Known as auto-enrolment, this applies to everyone who works in the UK and who isn’t already in a pension scheme which meets the government’s standards. It applies to workers who:
- are aged 22 or over
- are under the State Pension age
- earn over £10,000 per year (£833 per month)
- are paid PAYE (weekly or monthly)
Note – workers who own/operate a Personal Service Company are exempt from the legislation and are not affected by these changes.
How has the Champion Umbrella business complied with legislation?
Champion Contract Services Ltd (Champion) were given a staging date of 01 February 2014 by the Pensions Regulator.
To comply with our requirements, we engaged NOW: Pensions Ltd to run the Champion auto-enrolment scheme. NOW: Pensions Limited are a market leading pensions business who offer Champion workers the very best opportunity to grow the value of their contributed funds.
How does the legislation apply to Champion workers?
Workers become eligible to join the Champion pension scheme after they have been on assignment for 12 weeks.
NOW: Pensions Ltd write to all workers to introduce their services and will also confirm the date when the worker will be enrolled into the scheme.
Workers have the right to opt out but must do this within the first month of being auto-enrolled if they want to receive a refund of their contributions. A worker can opt out at any other time but will not receive a contribution refund.
All workers who opt out will be re-enrolled every 3 years – they can however choose to opt out once again.
Note - we strongly advise any workers who opt out of the Champion scheme to source an alternative arrangement via a personal pension provider who can take care of their bespoke retirement needs.
What are the pension contribution limits?
The minimum contribution that Champion workers are required to make is 5% of their pensionable earnings. At the same time, Champion will make a further 3% employer’s contribution.
Workers can elect to increase their personal contribution level at any time and need only to advise Champion.
Summary
The Champion business strongly supports workplace pension legislation and we advocate to all workers that they should remain opted into our scheme.
Our knowledge, experience and established processes will ensure that workers receive the very best return on their financial investments.
Contact Us
For more information and advice simply request a call back or contact one of our advisors on 0161 703 2549. Alternatively please email us on info@championcontractors.co.uk.
This factsheet is copyright Champion Contractors 2016, and is subject to change.