Changes to pensions laws
A new law which is being rolled out over six years means that employers are required to automatically enrol members of staff into a workplace pension, unless they choose to opt out. The law came into force from October 2012, starting with the largest employers.
Whilst many veterinary practices will employ fewer than 250 people - and therefore will not be required to begin auto enrolment until after February 2014 - managers may wish to begin their preparations, if they have not done so already.
As part of the new law regarding pensions, employees aged 22 years or above and who earn more than £9,440 per year will be automatically enrolled into a pension scheme by their employer, according to guidance issued by the Government.
Each veterinary practice or other business has been allocated a "staging date" - the date from which automatic enrolment duties come into force for that particular business. This date is based on the total number of people in your Pay as you Earn (PAYE) scheme on April 1, 2012.
Employers with 50 to 249 people in their largest PAYE scheme will have a staging date between April 1, 2014 and April 1, 2015, whereas those employers with fewer than 50 people in the scheme will be required to begin auto enrolling from June 1, 2015 and April 1, 2017.
However, there are some circumstances in which you will not be able to get the correct staging date from the tool, for example if you set up in business after April 1, 2012.
New employers who set up in business from April 1, 2012 up until September 30, 2017 will have a staging date between May 1, 2017 and February 1, 2018.
Those businesses who have certain types of staff but no PAYE scheme will have a staging date of April 1, 2017. Similarly, if you had fewer than 30 members of staff on April 1, 2012, have no staging date associated with your PAYE reference number and don't fall into any of the other exceptions categories, automatic enrolment will come into force on April 1, 2017.
Some "small employers" are able to move their staging date back, if on April 1, 2012, they employed fewer than 50 members of staff and had a PAYE scheme with more than 50 people in it.
Practices will need to first determine when their staging date is, which can be done using the government's staging date calculator. To find out your business' staging date, enter your PAYE reference (which can be found on your P35 or P30BC payslip booklet) into the calculator tool. All employers must be ready to comply with auto enrolment by their staging date.
Practices can bring forward their staging date should they wish to align automatic enrolment with other business activities, such as the start of the financial year. A selection of earlier staging dates are available to choose from, which can be found on the Pensions Regulator website.
Should you wish to do this, you must notify the Pensions Regulator within one month of your earlier staging date. This can be done online using the same service as you would use to register for automatic enrolment.
Visit the Pensions Regulator website for further information on auto enrolment, including detailed guidance on getting ready.
http://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/employers/what-is-my-staging-date.aspx
Defra has published guidance for the vet sector ahead of a proposed UK-EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary agreement.
