What is re-enrolment?

As the name suggests, it’s the process of re-applying some of the key auto-enrolment duties on a regular basis. What you need to do is re-enrol any members who may have left your scheme in the first three years (and subsequent three-year periods). The good news is that we’re here to help, and most of this can be carried out on your online administration platform.

When do I have to carry out re-enrolment?

You have six weeks from your re-enrolment date to put your members back into the pension scheme. You need to start by choosing your re-enrolment date. This will be a date chosen within a six month period. The six month period starts three months before and ends three months after either:

  • The three-year anniversary of your duties start date (that’s the day your first employee started work)

    Or
  • The three-year anniversary of your previous re-enrolment date.

You should make sure whatever date you choose fits in with your payroll and recruitment windows.

You can find out more details about re-enrolment dates on The Pensions Regulator website 

What must I do to carry out re-enrolment?

Once you’ve chosen your re-enrolment date, there are three main steps.

1. Reassess

If you still employ anybody, even one person, you’ll need to carry out an assessment to see if you need to provide an auto-enrolment pension scheme for them. So the first task is to review all of your members, and (re)establish their eligibility status for auto-enrolment.

There are a few criteria for a member to be re-enrolled, and these will be familiar in principle from when you first started auto-enrolment. The member needs to:

  • be an eligible jobholder during the pay period your date falls in
  • not already be an active member in the scheme on a qualifying basis
  • have previously been a member of one of your schemes on a qualifying basis (note that this includes members who have stayed in the scheme, but chosen to reduce their payments to below the minimum level required by auto-enrolment)
  • have opted-out or left the scheme more than 12 months before your re-enrolment date

So now you know who is eligible for re-enrolment – the next step is to tell them.

2. Communicate

You need to give your members the good news that they’re going to be re-enrolled in your pension scheme – and also let them know that they can opt out if they wish. This is a formal communication so it needs to be in writing, and Standard Life can help you with this.

3. Comply

The final step is to advise The Pensions Regulator that you’re compliant and ready to continue the regular checking of your members’ auto-enrolment status. This is called the Re-declaration of Compliance and this must be completed within five months of the third anniversary of your duties start date or previous re-enrolment date. Note that you do still need to make this declaration even if you have no eligible members to enrol.

You can do this online at The Pensions Regulator online re-declaration page , and it’s worth downloading their  Re-declaration of Compliance (PDF, 141KB) first so that you can make sure you have all your information to hand.

I don’t have eligible members – do I have to do anything?

If you don’t have any eligible members at this stage, you do still need to re-assess your workforce at regular intervals to make sure this remains the situation. Many employers choose to do this alongside their monthly payroll routine.

And the final, final step is to diarise your next re-enrolment date three years down the line.

Find out more

You can find out more details about re-enrolment on The Pensions Regulator website 

What next?