Workers Pension Trust growth continues

We are delighted to report that membership of Workers Pension Trust has continued to grow. We now provide a workplace pension for 4,600 employers and 48,700 employees.

Minimum auto-enrolment contributions are increasing

On 6 April 2018, by law, the minimum amount employers have to pay into workplace pensions goes up to 2% of qualifying earnings, while the combined total of the employer plus employee contributions must be at least 5%.

Minimum contributions will increase again on 6 April 2019, to 3% of qualifying earnings for the employer and 8% for the combined total.  Rates will then stay at this level unless the government makes changes to automatic enrolment in the future.

Workers Pension Trust will be carrying out checks to ensure that the increased contributions are paid to the Scheme.  We have a legal obligation to inform the Pensions Regulator where an underpayment is detected.

Annual thresholds change on 6 April 2018

The DWP has confirmed the annual thresholds for the 2018 - 2019 tax year, as follows:

When are directors exempt from automatic enrolment duties?

Many directors ask if they are exempt from automatic enrolment. The rules around director exemptions can be found on The Pensions Regulator website, where you can find out whether your clients have duties under automatic enrolment or not, and when these might come into effect.

Data Protection Law is changing

Data protection is changing significantly from 25 May 2018. The current Data Protection Act 1998 has been in place for nearly 20 years and will be replaced by the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR).

Over the last 12 months Workers Pension Trust has dedicated considerable time and resources to get ready for GDPR. Below is a summary of the key steps we have taken to comply with the new regulation:

• Completed a data mapping exercise to review what data is held, where it came from, how it is managed, who it is shared with and how long it is held
• Updated scheme policy and processes to ensure compliance, including how data subject requests will be handled as well as identifying, assessing and reporting breaches
• Contacted third parties who process data on the trustees' behalf to ensure they are GDPR compliant and completed updates to contracts, where required
• Drafted new privacy notices to inform data members how we look after their data. These will soon be available on our website.