We’re an award-winning UK workplace pension provider, looking after the pension savings of millions of members on behalf of tens of thousands of workplaces from lots of different industries.
Employers How we help your business
From setting up your workplace pension, to engaging with your workers and making sure your workplace pension stays compliant, we’ve got every step covered.
Useful information for your workers See frequently asked questions
Managing your worker communications
We can send our clear, simple communications directly to your workers, saving you time and effort and helping you keep your workplace pension compliant.
Managing your worker communications
Simple, secure administration
Our secure online system and practical guides are designed to make setting up and running your workplace pension as easy as possible.
Simple, secure administration
Useful information for your workers
We’ve got lots of useful content to help your workers navigate their workplace pension savings.
Useful information for your workers
Clear, competitive charges
We’ve designed our charges to be as clear as possible – for employers and workers.
Clear, competitive charges
Frequently asked questions
See all support for employersIf you’re a member, follow the link below to set up now:u and start saving.
Members: step-by-step member log-in instructions and video guide
If you’re a workplace or payroll bureau, choose one of the links below.
Employers: how to set up a workplace pension in now:u
Payroll bureaus: how to set up a payroll bureau on now:u
Yes. The law says Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) must be treated as part of qualifying earnings.
During sick leave, pension contributions from workers and workplaces are based on the worker’s actual earnings.
So unless the contract of employment, or the workplace pension scheme rules, offer more generous terms, the worker and workplace contributions will go down if the worker’s sick pay is lower than their normal pay.
If you run your payroll weekly, fortnightly or four-weekly, some years will have extra pay periods.
When this happens you’ll need to create extra pay periods to finish your PAYE tax year.
How to create extra pay periods
Log in to now:u and go to your Payroll page, where you’ll see your active payrolls. When your next pay period is 1, you’ll be able to edit this pay period and its start dates to match your extra pay period.
Once you’ve uploaded your pension data files for this pay period, the next expected pay period will be 1. You’ll be able to edit this again to re-set your pay periods for the start of the new payroll year.
What do extra pay periods mean for workers?
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) says you must give your workers an extra amount of tax-free pay – even if their tax-free pay for the year has been allocated. This helps to protect workers’ take-home pay and makes sure the tax for that period doesn’t vary too much from the usual amount.
Once the tax year ends, HMRC will recover the underpaid tax given by the extra personal allowance by sending out a P800 calculation.
Pensionable earnings is the definition of pay you use to work out pension contributions, for:
- your workers
- you, as their workplace contributing to their pension savings.
The minimum basis for working out auto enrolment pension contributions is qualifying earnings. But, you may choose to use one of the other definitions. You can use different definitions of pensionable earnings for all or different groups of workers.
Types of pensionable earnings
| Types of earnings | Definition | Minimum contribution rate |
|---|---|---|
| Basic earnings | Includes your basic pay and any statutory sick pay, statutory maternity pay, statutory paternity pay and statutory adoption pay. Workplaces can exclude things like bonuses, overtime and commission. | Workplace 4% Worker 5% |
| Qualifying earnings | All earnings between a lower and upper limit set by the government and reviewed each year. Includes salary, wages, commission, bonuses, overtime, statutory sick and parental leave pay (maternity, paternity and adoption pay). | Workplace 3% Worker 5% |
| Basic earnings (at least 85% of total earnings) | Basic earnings must make up at least 85% of total earnings, on average, for all workers in the pension. Workplaces can exclude things like bonuses, overtime and commission. | Workplace 3% Worker 5% |
| Total earnings | All earnings for a pay period including wages, commission, overtime, bonuses, performance-related pay and any other earnings. | Workplace 3% Worker 4% |
You can find out more about contributions on The Pensions Regulator’s website.
A contribution model is a structure that defines how much the contributions to your workplace pension will be. It sets out what percentages of pensionable earnings – the pay used to work out pension contributions – the workplace and workers should each pay.
The contribution models we support range from a simple model that meets the minimum legal requirements, to more complicated models that include matching contributions.
The law requires that when you deduct contributions from your workers’ pay, you must pay these in to your workplace pension scheme no later than the 22nd day (19th if you pay by cheque) of the next month.
You must upload your pension data files in time to meet the deadline of the 22nd day of the month after your deduction date.