Pension Auto Enrolment Quotation

[jjscruff]

My auto enrollment is coming up for employee pensions
Have been quoted £400 to set up 3 employees on auto enrollment
Was just wondering if that sounds about right?
They company providing the quote would be taking over all work

 

[Newchodge]

Have you chosen a pension provider?

How often will you have to pay the £400?

Is this company also going to run your payroll, or is that separate?

 

[jjscruff]

no i haven't chosen a provider

Its a one off payment and then i will be making the payments to pensions each month

Payroll is separate

Thanks

 

[Newchodge]

That is a ridiculous quote. The work involves about 1 - 2 hours.

Have you asked your payroll provide to do it? If not, drop me a PM.

 

[jjscruff]

my payroll say they can't do it, don't know why
Its a decent size accountancy firm
Which led me to think it was a big job

 

[Newchodge]

Once the pension provider is set up your payroll provider will have to administer the contributions. Have you spoken to them about that? Or will the auto enrolment provider administer the figures every month without any further charge?

What exactly is the auto enrolment provider going to do?

 

[bakedplan]

That quote is rather worrying!

Speak with your payroll department further, or have you thought about online software which you can manage yourself? There is plenty of support for the pension scheme out there, but research into this quote further what does it fully include? As Newchodge has stated the work depending on the amount of employee's can vary between an hour to two, maybe a little more, not sure personally if that is worth said quote.

 

[Dory]

I run my own Payroll for 2 employees and I set up Auto pension with NEST. It costs me nothing, just the contributions. It took a few hours to set up but only 10 mins each week to update the contributions table. I believe this has to be done along with the Payroll as you also have to inform HMRC the amounts paid by your employee as they are net of tax & HMRC add their bit into the employees pot. Maybe the accountant are not willing to do it because of the Pensions advise issue. I did not give my employees a choice or any advice. They can opt out if they want. Maybe a firm of accountants are not allowed to do pensions on a non advised basis.

 

[Intelligent Payroll]

Hi,
A few misconceptions on here which I will try to clear up,

Firstly an accountancy or anyone else can absolutely give advice on auto enrolment pension to the Employer, however the decision is ultimately up to the employer. (This has been confirmed by The Pensions Regulator)

Secondly the quote received of £400 for Independent financial advice regarding pensions sounds about right, if not a little on the cheaper side, I've seen these starting from £500 for single employee companies all the way up to £20,000 depending on how bespoke it is.
Once the pension has been set up (£400) ask your accountancy (payroll provider) how much extra they will charge to process pensions as they will increase the cost. You will also need to check whether employee letters are included in that £400 cost as it is a requirement to give your employees letters at each different Auto enrolment stage.

Finally, yes you are able to set the pension scheme up yourself and upload contributions yourself, you are also able to do the payroll yourself, however depending on your technical knowledge, its easy to make errors which is why (depending on your budget) it is best to outsource for almost all employers (depending on their knowledge).

How we handled an employer staging this month;
Gave the Employer Information on a number of pension providers(18+)
Employer then compared and independently chose a pension provider.
We set up pension scheme (as chosen by the employer) for a one off fee (1/4 of the original posters quote)
We make the pension deductions and upload contributions each month (with the amount collected from the Employer bank), we also send the auto enrolment letters to staff, this is included in the payroll price which was cheaper than what they were currently paying without auto enrolment.
result - one happy customer.

To the original poster - you need to find a company who is able to provide you the above service at a price point you are happy with.