For schools the impact of the new auto enrolment regulations are expected to be small in terms of new members that need to be added to a pension scheme.

After all most of your employees will already be members of either Teachers’ Pension or the Local Government Pension Scheme. These that aren’t will have already opted out for a specific reason and it is unlikely that auto enrolment will entice them back in.

For schools the impact of the new auto enrolment regulations are expected to be small in terms of new members that need to be added to a pension scheme.

After all most of your employees will already be members of either Teachers’ Pension or the Local Government Pension Scheme. These that aren’t will have already opted out for a specific reason and it is unlikely that auto enrolment will entice them back in.

Additionally, as new employees are automatically deemed scheme members until they opt out the large majority are expected to be members of a contractual scheme and therefore will avoid the need to follow the legislative auto enrolment process.

Nevertheless auto enrolment provisions are mandatory and your school will need to comply, but from when?

Many schools have already sourced provision of HR and payroll services away from the Local Authority. Indeed the Local Authority may no longer provide these services. However, unless you are a free school or an Academy most of your employees will actually be employees of the Local Authority.

In these circumstances the adoption of auto enrolment may hit you much earlier than you think. The staging date for commencing with auto enrolment is calculated by reference to the number of employees on the largest PAYE scheme with that employer. Within a Local Authority environment this means that you may be caught by the main LA payroll numbers and have a much earlier than expected.

Schools if assessed in isolation are likely to fall into auto enrolment during 2014. If caught by the LA provisions this could be as early as January 2013.

As payroll outsourcing providers we are working with Local Authorities across the UK and developing systems for sharing data, ensuring that our school payroll customers operate a compliant pension regime.

To find out more contact us today