With presenters from across Nest, the webinar included information on payroll integration (webservices), some tips for running your Nest accounts and an update on employee engagement tools.
The presentations and Q&A are available now to watch and share with colleagues :
Speakers :
- John Hale – Head of B2B Technical and Strategic Partnerships
- Gary Ball – Senior Technical Account Manager
- Andrew Oldacre- Head of Key Connector Account Management
Hosted by David Knight – Head of Key Employer Account Management
The slides from the webinar are available here: June webinar slides
Below are the unanswered questions from the webinar :
Q: Whenever a client is in default and has been reported to the pensions regulator, I have received email notifications from NEST, addressed to my accounting firm that NEST has reported my firm to the regulator. I expected the name of the client to be on the letter and not the name of my firm. Why is this the case please? My firm is just and agent acting on behalf of the client to file the return.
Answer: When we send out TPR reporting notifications we reference the employer this relates to.
Q: We have a very small payroll function and manage our client contributions direct through the NEST website and not uploaded via our payroll software. Are there any plans to stop this method?
Answer: There are no plans to remove this option.
Q: If a new employee has recently been enrolled into the workplace pension scheme then opted out within the timeframe but the cyclical re-enrolment is a few months later, does the employee have to be re-enrolled? What is the timeframe for not having to re-enrol a recently opted out or ceased payment employee?
Answer: There is an option to exclude any worker who’s opted out or ceased membership of the scheme in the twelve months preceding the employees re-enrolment date.
Q: As a Bureau can you add a business when you ask for personal details that are missing for an entity?
Answer: Yes, you can update details on the Nest account.
Q: If I have a re-assessment date for re-enrolment on the last day of the month do I assess for that payroll month (if monthly frequency)? eg. 31st May date needs to be re-assessed in May payroll month.
Answer: Whatever date the pay period falls in. Please visit our help centre for more information.
Q: Can an employee ask their employer to stop contributions after Opt-Out window has been closed?
Answer: Yes
Q: Each service provider has a different policy regarding refunds on worker contributions. If a worker opts out after one month and the employee insists on a refund, is it possible to process a refund in this case?
Answer: No, unfortunately not.
Q: If a member of staff has a Nest pension with an old employer will the two accounts be linked?
Answer: Yes, contributions should go into the same pot from both employers.
Q: Can we change the date a contribution schedule is due? Currently I have one that is set at the 10th but ideally we need it set at the 20th?
Answer: Yes. You would need to set up a new group and move workers to this group. Please use the help centre links below for guides on how to do this :
Q: What contributions should be paid for an employee who is on Maternity Leave? Is it on the basis of Maternity pay or on the basis of his salary before his Maternity pay started?
Answer: Normally the employer’s contribution is based on notional pay and employee contribution is based on actual their pay received.
Q: If staff are paid in arrears i.e pay period is 2-8 June but payday is the following week on 12th June, is it correct that the contributions have to be uploaded in to a schedule that includes the pay date i.e. 9-15th June rather than the actual earnings period. Our software has recently moved to this way.
Answer: Yes
Q: Hi, if an employee wished to stop contributions for a period of time due to financial issues can this be done and if so how?
Answer: Yes, mark them as a leaver and they can opt back in later – should they wish to do so.
Q: Can an employer make the total 8% (employees and employers) contribution as an employer contribution?
Answer: Yes
Q: I have someone who wants to merge their different pension pots into one. Are they able to move out their NEST balance to another provider and still have contributions into their NEST account?
Answer: Yes, they would need to cancel their membership, transfer out and opt back in.
Q: Can the employer pay extra pension / percentage for only few employees. How does it work while submitting the monthly summaries?
Answer: Yes, add to the existing contributions for the worker on a contribution schedule.
Q: If an eligible employee is due to leave employment at the end of the the month they are due to be auto-enrolled (after 3 months postponement), should they be auto enrolled still? For example, employee started employment on 1st March and leaving employment on 30th June and is due to be auto-enrolled on 1st June.
Answer: If they’ve handed their notice in you can disregard them.
Q: You currently don’t charge clients to manage their pension, is this likely to continue?
Answer: Yes, there are no plans to change this.
Q: We have an employee who is on Maternity leave which payments have ceased and as yet they have not returned to work, hence no contributions, am I correct in using ‘on family leave’ or should this be ‘insufficient earnings’?
Answer: As there are no contributions use insufficient earnings
Q: Had an error where system placed worker as Female, not Male, we have contacted and sent copy passport/ birth cert and employee has contacted and confirmed the change. For some reason you are saying this is not enough to make the change?
Answer: We’ll need more details in relation to the employer / member to enable us to investigate this. Please send this to events@nestcorporation.org.uk.
Q: If an employee is employed with variable earnings based on a weekly wage and some earnings take them over the threshold but other weeks don’t, do they need to be enrolled into the pension when their earnings are above the earnings threshold or can we keep postponing them until their earnings reach the lower threshold of £6,240. The employee works in a restaurant where they may work 10 hours one week, then another week work 20 hours but then miss weeks in between.
Answer: Once you have postponed a worker you access them at the end of the postponement period and at that point if they qualify they must be enrolled. If they don’t qualify at that point you have to access them every pay period and the next time they qualify you can postpone them again and keep restarting the process.
Q: My client doesn’t have an access to the company NEST account which was done by her pervious accountant which she hasn’t go touch with. how can we deal with it?
Answer: If you as the Nest connector are a full access delegate they can give add the employer as a delegate.