The auto-enrolment solution for Northern Ireland

Can I upload a bulk pension contribution file for all my employers?

Yes, as a delegated user you can either select each employer individually and upload their pension contributions or you can upload contributions for multiple employers in a single file. The file must match the layout in the table below and be saved in .csv format. Please note that Column A requires the appropriate Employer Code to be entered against each employee.

Column Field Content Data Type (max characters) Example
A Employer Code Alphanumeric (8) 100063/2
B NINO Alphanumeric (9) XZ140548D
C Employee Name (this field will not be validated and is purely for information purposes) Alphanumeric (100) Gary Smith
D Date PRP Start Date (dd/mm/yyyy) 03/10/2020
E Date PRP End Date (dd/mm/yyyy) 09/10/2020
F Salary for PRP Numeric (5,2) 00000.00
G Employer Pension Contribution (including Salary Sacrifice Contribution, if applicable) Numeric (5,2) 00000.00
H Employee Pension Contribution Numeric (5,2) 00000.00
I Group Life Assurance (if applicable) Numeric (5,2) 00000.00
J Employer Lump Sum Numeric (5,2) 00000.00
K Employee Lump Sum Numeric (5,2) 00000.00
L Column no longer used Blank Blank

NB When saving the .csv file for upload there should be no titles or totals. If employees are paid weekly, then each week's contributions should be shown.

This information should be extracted from your payroll software. Please refer to your payroll software guidance for information on how to do this. Once extracted, the information should be arranged in the same column order as in the table.

  • PRP – this refers to the Payment Reference Period. For example, employees may be paid weekly, monthly, four weekly or fortnightly.
    • Date PRP Start – the date on which the relative contribution period started.
    • Date PRP End – the date on which the relative contribution period ends.
    • Salary for PRP – gross qualifying earnings for the contribution period before salary thresholds are applied.
  • Employer and Employee Lump Sum – If the employer or the employee would like to make an additional payment into the fund, enter the value into the corresponding column. This is not validated but cannot be a negative value. This can also be used if extra amounts need to be paid in for previous periods.

Group Life Assurance

If the client company does not use Group Life Assurance, then leave Column I blank.

If the client company does use Group Life Assurance, Column I should have the Group Life Contribution Value for each employee within the Payment Reference Period.

You can also enter these details on the Data Grid rather than adding them in an upload file.

1.   Submitting a .csv file

Once you have created your file this can be uploaded by following these steps:

On your ‘My Profile’ page click Upload a single pension contribution file for multiple employers.

On the Upload Pension Contributions page, click Upload Pension Contributions.

You will be presented with a Browse or Choose file option. When presented with this screen, navigate through your file explorer, find the file that contains the contribution information and click Upload.

All contributions will be listed alongside the name of their employer. Check the details listed are correct and click Confirm Contributions.

Once confirmed, the contributions will be displayed in more detail in regards to the employer and employee contributions and Group Life Assurance (if applicable).

To complete this process check that the contributions are correct and click Submit Contributions.

2.   Submit the data using the Data Grid

Select the Open Data Grid button.

Enter the data into the data grid for all contributions.

Select the Validate & Save button to validate that the data you have entered is correct.

Data Validation

Any data validation issues will be highlighted in red or orange:

  • Red means that something needs to be amended before the contribution data can be submitted
  • Orange means that there is a warning message which you need to confirm e.g. contributions relate to a previous period

More information about error messages

After contribution data has been updated, you can select Validate & Save.

If there are more than 80 contributions with issues that need to be checked then these will be split into separate pages.

The following message will be displayed if there are still orange warnings: Please confirm to proceed with Warnings

When all issues have been resolved, the Submit Contributions button will appear, and you should select this if you are satisfied the information provided is correct.

After pressing Submit Contributions you will be asked if you need to add any more contributions. If all contributions have been uploaded, you should then confirm the Direct Debit amount.