now:u - our modern, fully-featured pension platform
Discover now:uWhat is now:u?
now:u is our new pension platform designed to make managing your workplace pension easier, so you have more time to concentrate on running your business.Getting started with now:u
Follow our simple steps to getting access to now:uLogging into now:u
It’s simple to manage your workplace pension and keep track of your workers' pension savings with now:u. Log in here.
How we help your business
Discover moreHow to set up your workplace pension
It's easy to manage your workplace pension with us. We’ll guide you through setting up your employer website and managing your pension data file uploads to help keep your pension compliant.Managing your worker communications
We can manage your worker communications for you, saving you time and effort and helping you meet your auto enrolment duties.Simple secure administration
Our modern, fully-featured pension platform offers instant access and high-level security - making managing your pension easy and efficient, as well as giving your workers 24/7 access to their pension savings.Useful information for your workers
Our online help centre has lots of useful information to help your workers get the most from their pension savings.Clear competitive charges
We like to keep things simple. This applies to our charges as well as everything else.
Employers' responsibilities
Visit this sectionWhat are your legal duties?
It's the law that you need to set up and run a workplace pension for your workers and, if they qualify for for auto enrolment, enrol them and pay in to their pension savings. We explain what you need to do to ensure your workplace pension meets your legal obligations.How much should you contribute?
We have a range of contribution models designed to cater for the needs of different-sized employers.When workers stop (opt out of) contributions
Your workers have the right to opt out of your workplace pension by stopping their contributions within one month of being enrolled. These rules are set by the government and enforced by The Pensions Regulator.Salary sacrifice arrangements
Salary sacrifice is a tax-efficient way to arrange contributions to your workplace pension. It enables your and your workers to pay lower National Insurance contributions.What is PAYE?
Pay As You Earn (PAYE) is HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC)’s system for collecting income tax and National Insurance contributions.
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Employer FAQs
View all FAQsIf you’re a member, follow the link below to set up now:u and start saving.
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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.