Temporary workers - your pension obligations
If you’re employing temporary workers for the summer season don’t forget that they have the same rights to join your workplace pension as permanent employees. What do you need to do?
Pension auto-enrolment
Workplace pensions have been around for over a decade. Despite this, every year some employers forget that temporary employees they take on, say during the summer period, have the same rights to workplace pensions as their full-time workers. Because of this HMRC is currently running a campaign to remind employers.
Assess and advise
If you’re an employer you must assess temporary staff for their right to be enrolled in your workplace pension scheme each time you pay them, even if they only work for you for a few days.
If you don’t assess your employees for entitlement to join your workplace pension it can result in a warning from HMRC or The Pensions Regulator. This can escalate to a fine of £400 initially and then daily penalties of between £50 and £10,000.
You can avoid having to assess your employees if they will work for you for no more than three months. Do this by using the auto-enrolment postponement procedure.
Related Topics
-
When is pensions advice exempt from tax?
You’re close to retirement age and want some professional advice on topping up your pension and a rough idea of how much you’ll have to live on in retirement. If your company foots the bill, will it qualify for the tax exemption?
-
Can sale with no goodwill charge still qualify as TOGC?
You are selling an unprofitable part of your business but the sale does not include any charge for goodwill due to trading losses. Can the sale still qualify as the transfer of a going concern and what conditions must you meet?
-
IHT planning with the family home
You want to take steps to reduce your inheritance tax (IHT) exposure but most of your wealth is tied up in your home. You don’t want to downsize anytime soon so which tax planning options could help you?