Little Ones Pension Service for Nannies
Little Ones Payroll Service: Supporting your Nanny’s Workplace Pension set up
Little Ones Payroll Service are experts at supporting our family client base with the relevant pension scheme set up. We will enrol your employee, manage the contributions on your behalf and complete the necessary administration and communication with the Pensions Regulator. Please contact a member of the Little Ones Payroll team on 0207 183 6795 or email us at payroll@littleoneslondon.co.uk today for more information about our nanny auto-enrolment service.
The Current Pensions Legislation, updated in 2017, requires that all employers in the UK, including nanny and housekeeper employers, have a workplace pension scheme in place for their employees and contribute towards this scheme accordingly.
You will be classed as an employer, even if you employ just one person, for example a nanny.
The Little Ones Payroll Service team is here to support and guide you through the pension’s auto-enrolment process and ensure that meeting your obligations as an employer is as simple and straightforward as possible. We will enrol your employee into a pension scheme (we currently use NEST), manage the contributions in line with the payroll frequency, and complete the necessary communication with the Pensions Regulator.
Failure to meet your Employer pension duties and declaration deadlines may result in significant penalty fines, therefore please do not hesitate to contact us if you need help in understanding and navigating the current Pension requirements.
The Little Ones Payroll Service team is here to help you meet your Employer Pension duties for your nanny.
Navigating the current Pension Requirements - Auto-Enrolment for nannies
Nanny Auto-Enrolment is the process in which an employee is made a member of a pension scheme as they have met certain eligibility requirements without needing to ask to be part of it. If the nanny meets these minimum thresholds they automatically need to be enrolled into a pension scheme by their employer.
Auto-enrolment is a legal duty of the employer and if you do not meet these obligations the Pensions Regulator may take certain enforcement actions which may include a penalty fine. However, the legal responsibility for auto enrolment sits with employers.
Automatic enrolment duties apply from the day your new member of staff started working for you.
If your nanny is under the age of 22 or earns less than £10,000 per year, contribution to a pension is not compulsory. However, your nanny has the right to request that you set this up and contribute to a pension and, if they do, you are required to arrange it.
If you are signed up to a pension’s subscription through the Little Ones Payroll Service, we will complete your automatic enrolment duties on your behalf, taking away the worry of not meeting these obligations.
How do I know if my Employee qualifies for a pension?
Auto-enrolment into a workplace pension scheme is a compulsory requirement if the following apply;
- Your Employee is aged between 22 and state pension age (the state pension age is currently 66 and is scheduled to rise to 67 between 2026 and 2028).
- Your Employee earns more than the minimum earnings threshold of £192 per week (£833 per month or £10,000 per year).
How much will my Pension contributions be?
If you are signed up for the Little Ones Pension Service subscription, we will make sure you contribute on behalf of your nanny as per the statutory guidelines. The Statutory pension contributions are the minimum contributions that an employer and an employee must contribute if they are enrolled on a pension scheme. Please see the below table, which contains the current statutory contributions percentages as of 6th April 2019.
Date | Minimum contribution | Employer Contribution | Employee Contribution | Government Contribution |
From 6 April 2019 | 8 % | 3 % | 4 % | 1 % |
Little Ones will calculate your nanny’s eligible earnings and related contributions for each pay period on your behalf. The employee’s pension contribution will be included in the employee’s payslip and deducted from the employee’s salary. Little Ones will then calculate the employee and employer contribution and reconcile the aggregate figure through the NEST Account.
What is a Declaration of Compliance?
Little Ones Payroll Service will help you to meet all of your employer obligations concerning pensions. This includes completing a Declaration of Compliance with the Pensions Regulator. The Declaration of Compliance is an online form that needs to be completed on the Pension Regulator’s website to confirm that you are complying with your nanny pension duties as an employer.
You have a deadline to complete the Declaration of Compliance within five months after your duties start date. Failure to do this could result in you receiving a hefty fine.
It is important to note that even if your nanny has not been automatically enrolled into a pension scheme, i.e. if they did not meet the minimum earnings threshold or fell outside of the age categories (under 22 or older than 66 years old), you will still need to complete a declaration of compliance with the Pensions Regulator.
The Little Ones dedicated Payroll Service team will be delighted to help you meet all of your employer obligations and navigate the nanny pension requirements.
What is a Re-declaration of Compliance?
All employers must also complete a re-declaration of compliance, confirming that they continue to meet their employer pension duties. This needs to be completed every three years. The re-declaration date will be within five calendar months of the third anniversary of their staging date. For later re-enrolments, the date moves to the third anniversary of their most recent re-enrolment date.
If you are signed up to the Little Ones Pension Service, we will complete the re-declaration of compliance on your behalf. Please ask a member of the Little Ones Payroll team today to confirm your re-declaration date if you have not received communication from the Pensions Regulator.
Which Pension’s Provider do Little Ones use?
The Little Ones Payroll team uses NEST to manage our clients’ nanny or housekeeper pension schemes. NEST is the acronym for “The National Employment Savings Trust”. NEST is an online Pension Scheme set up by the Government to simplify pensions auto-enrolment and ongoing pension’s management.
Once the Employer sets up the NEST account, Little Ones will be responsible for the day-to-day management of the scheme provided you are signed up to the relevant subscription tier, and you have provided accurate and up to date information to enable effective management of this scheme.
Do I have to pay into a pension scheme if I employ a part-time Nanny or Housekeeper?
If your nanny meets the eligibility criteria to be auto-enrolled into a pension scheme (over 22, under 66 and earning more than £192 per week), you are required to enrol them into a pension scheme. This also applies to permanent and temporary staff; however, postponement may be used if the employee agrees.
My Employee does not meet the Auto-Enrolment criteria but has requested a pension be set up.
Even if your nanny does not meet the auto-enrolment criteria, they still have the right to request the set up of a workplace pension and can opt-in. All requests must be actioned within one month of receiving the request.
It is also important to note that nannies who have previously opted out of a pension scheme have the option to re-enrol at any point.
My Employee does not want to contribute to their pension but is an eligible jobholder.
If your nanny does not want to contribute towards a workplace pension scheme but is over the age of 22 and under state pension age or earns more than £10,000 per annum, they have the right to opt-out after they have been enrolled on NEST. It is important to note that only the employee can do this; no one can do this on their behalf.
An Employer cannot tell an employee to opt-out of a pension. This is illegal and carries a very steep penalty.
Planning ahead – when can I expect to receive a letter from the Pensions Regulator?
The Staging Date is the date on which employee pension duties commence. This will be calculated from your PAYE reference. Employers can find out staging dates by entering the PAYE reference onto the Pensions Regulator’s staging date calculator.
Little Ones’ Pension Glossary of useful terms
Little Ones Payroll Service is here to support your Pension journey for your Employee. Our Payroll assistances are often asked questions about pension auto-enrolment for nannies. Therefore, we have included some keywords and terms below regarding pensions. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any further questions.
The Pensions Regulator (TPR): TPR is the public body that protects workplace pensions in the UK.
NEST: National Employment Savings Trust
Auto Enrolment: The process in which an employee is made a member of a Pension Scheme as they have met specific eligibility requirements without needing to ask to be part of it.
Staging Date: The latest date by which you have to have an auto-enrolment scheme in place for your employees.
Declaration of Compliance: A confirmation via the TPR’s website that you are meeting your employer obligations. This is required once every three years.
Re-declaration of Compliance: A re-declaration to TPR that you are meeting your employer obligations. You will be notified by the Pensions Regulator what your re-declaration deadline is. This will be once every 3 years if you are employing someone.
Postponement: The process by which you can delay signing up your employee to a workplace pension scheme by up to 3 months. You are required to write to your nanny or another staff member to notify them of the postponement.
However, if your employee requests that the pension starts before the postponement period ends, you must pay them at the earliest next pay period. In addition, you can only use postponement if you are within six weeks of the date that your member of staff met the age and earnings criteria to be put into a pension scheme.
Opting-in: If an employee does not meet the eligibility criteria for auto-enrolment, they still have the right to opt into their Employer’s Pension scheme if they want one to be set up.
Opt-out: If a nanny does not want to contribute to their pension scheme (perhaps they do not want to forfeit any salary), they can opt out. But, the nanny must first be auto-enrolled by the employer.
Auto Re Enrolment: The employer must make arrangements by which an eligible jobholder who has opted out or ceased active membership becomes an active member of an automatic enrolment scheme with effect from the automatic re-enrolment date.
Eligible jobholder: The employee is “eligible” for auto-enrollment, i.e., between 22 and state pension age.
Non-Eligible Job Holder: An employee who falls outside of the auto-enrolment criteria but has the right to opt-in by giving notice to their Employer
Disclaimer: The information provided may change or be updated from time to time and if you are unsure please refer to NEST or The Pension regulator for the most up to date information. Please contact a member of the Little Ones Payroll team if you have any questions, we are here to help navigate these requirements.