Auto Enrolment for Accountants | Accountex 2015

DM 2750193 v4 These slides remain the property of The Pensions Regulator and their content should not be altered on reproduction.

Accountex 2015

Neil EsslemontHead of industry liaison

13 May 2015

Automatic enrolment

AE for Accountants

The information we provide is for guidance only and should not be taken as a definitive interpretation of the law.


Topics

• What employers need to do

• Staging dates and overall timetable

• Who are your workers?

• Worker categories and the duties and rights for pension scheme enrolment

• Assessing the workers

• Postponement

• Pension schemes

• Opt-ins and Opt-outs

• Communicating with workers

• Cyclical re-enrolment

• Keeping records

• Declaration of compliance


What employers will need to do


Staging

• The employer duties apply to each employer from their staging date:

– the duties apply to all of the employer’s workers from that date.

• An employer’s staging date will be based on the PAYE scheme/s that were being used on 1 April 2012

– any subsequent change in PAYE size or usage has no effect on the staging date.

• However, new employers* will go last, from May 2017.

Oct 2012 May 2017April 2014 June 2015

Large employers

Medium employers

Small/micro employers

New* employers

Feb 2018

*Employers that did not exist (or were not using a PAYE)

as at 1 April 2012.

Do not assume you

know the number of

people- use our tool


Staging profile (volumes of employers)

Planning ahead is key. Very large volumes staging from January 2016

June 2015 peak includes small and micro employers


Automatic enrolment legislation gives employers a duty to: automatically enrol all eligible jobholders communicate to workers providing timely and appropriate information allow non-eligible jobholders to Opt-in and entitled workers to join manage Opt-outs within the Opt-out period and promptly refund

contributions automatically re-enrol eligible jobholders every three years complete declaration of compliance with the Regulator keep records, and maintain payments of contributions.

The employee safeguards state that employers: must not induce workers to Opt-out or cease membership of a scheme must not indicate to a potential jobholder that their decision to Opt-out will

affect the outcome of the recruitment process

Overview of legal duties and safeguards


Who are your client’s workers?


Are they a personal services worker?

• The employer needs to judge whether or not an individual (who is not a director)with a contract to perform work or services personally is undertaking the work as part of their own business.

• Does the employer:

– have control over an individual’s method of work (eg hours worked)?

– provide any employee benefits?

– bear all the significant financial risks in carrying out the work (eg the worker is not financially responsible for their faulty work)?

– provide what is required for the individual to carry out the work (eg tools)?

If most or all of the above are true, then it would be reasonable to consider that they are not undertaking the work as part of their own business – and they are a personal services worker.

• The list above is not exhaustive and an employer must take into account all relevant considerations and make a reasonable judgement.


Who is excluded?

Exclusions from automatic enrolment duties include:

• some office-holders who are not considered workers, (eg non-executive director, trustee or elected member), but they are only excluded for the activities they carry out as an office holder

• serving members of the military are not workers

• a company with only one employee, if that employee is also a director of that company (but only for the work they carry out for that company)

From 1 April 2015, new exceptions were introduced covering workers*:

• in their notice period

• who have previously ceased active membership of a qualifying pension

• with HMRC tax protected status for their pension savings

• who have received a pension winding-up lump sum payment

*see additional slides for more detail


Who is the worker’s employer?

• For a worker who works under a contract of employment (an employee) or who is a personal services worker directly contracted to perform work for the company who pays them:

the employer will be the legal entity named in the contract.

• Otherwise:

– for a worker who is supplied by an agent to a third party, to perform work personally, under a contract or arrangement between the agent and the third party, then:

• the agent or third party will be the agency worker’s employer, depending on which is responsible for paying the worker

• or, if it cannot be determined who is responsible for paying the worker, then whichever actually pays the worker will be considered as their employer.


Qualifying earningsAge range

16-21 22-SPA* SPA*-74

Under £5,668† pa

Between £5,668 pa and up to £9,440† pa

Non-Non-Eligible JobholderNon-Eligible Jobholder

Eligible Jobholder

More than £9,440† pa Non-EligibleJobholder

* SPA = State Pension Age

** Figures for 2015/16

Up to £5,824** pa

Over £5,824 pa and up to £10,000** pa

More than £10,000** pa Eligiblejobholder

Employer must automatically enrol

eligible jobholders into an automatic enrolment

pension scheme

Worker categories

NonNon-eligible jobholder-Eligible Jobholder

Non-eligiblejobholder

Non-eligiblejobholder

Non-eligible jobholders can

Opt-in to an automatic

enrolment pension scheme

Entitled workerCan request to join a pension

scheme

DM2750193 v4 These slides remain the property of The Pensions Regulator and their content should not be altered on reproduction.

Thresholds v Pay Reference Periods (PRP) 2015-16

† For other PRP durations, multiply the number of weeks in the PRP by the weekly amount (eg £192.00) or number of months by the monthly amount (eg £833.00) etc - or pro-rata if not an exact multiple of any of the above.

N.B. The Secretary of State will review these figures each tax year.

Pay Reference Period †

Lower Earnings Threshold

(LET)

Earnings trigger for automatic enrolment

Upper Earnings Limit

Annual £5,824 pa £10,000 pa £42,385.00 pa

Bi-annual £2,912.00 £4,998.00 £21,193.00

1 quarter £1,456.00 £2,499.00 £10,597.00

1 month £486.00 £833.00 £3,532.00

4 weeks £448.00 £768.00 £3,261.00

Fortnight £224.00 £384.00 £1,631.00

1 week £112.00 £192.00 £815.00


Assessing your workers

• Employers will need to assess all their workers on their staging date – unless they choose to use ‘postponement’ (described in later slides).

• All qualifying earnings must be used to assess a worker’s category (ie eligible jobholder, non-eligible jobholder or entitled worker).

• Qualifying earnings is any component of pay that could be considered one of these pay elements (an employer should use their reasonable judgement): – salary/wages, commission, bonuses, overtime and some statutory

payments (excluding expenses and dividends).

• Eligible jobholders must be automatically enrolled into a suitable scheme – but any active member of a ‘qualifying’ pension scheme with that

employer will not need to be automatically enrolled.

• After the staging date, employers will have to:– assess all new workers who join them– assess some workers every pay period (see slide on ‘Monitoring eligibility’)

– assess some workers again every three years (see slide on ‘Re-enrolment’)


Monitoring eligibility for automatic enrolment

• After the staging date, employers will have to assess, every pay period, any worker who:i. is not an active member of a qualifying pension scheme, and:ii. has not previously been automatically enrolled (or assessed as an eligible

jobholder whilst an active member of a qualifying schemeϮ).

• Workers assessed as an eligible jobholder would then need to automatically enrolled (or postponed).

• Those workers that do not fall into the above category should be left until the next re-enrolment date (see slide on cyclical re-enrolment).

Ϯ A worker who has simultaneously been an eligible jobholder and an active member of a qualifying scheme since:

• the employer’s staging date; or• the date they started work for the employer; or• the last day of postponement.


Postponement

• Postponement suspends the duty of automatic enrolment and the need to assess and can be used:

– at the employer’s staging date for any or all existing workers

– on the first day of employment for any new joiner after the staging date, and

– on the date a worker meets the criteria to be an eligible jobholder.

• Only one postponement per worker can be made at a given time.

• Each worker can be postponed from one day up to maximum of three months.

• The employer must notify any postponed worker within six weeks and a day of the start of postponement.

• The worker has the right to Opt-in or join during postponement.

• Employer must assess on the last day of postponement and:

– automatically enrol eligible jobholders, and

– for those workers not eligible, monitor them each future pay period.

Postponement does not change or delay

the staging date


Check suitability of payroll and IT systems

• What software will you use to carry out:

– assessment

– enrolment

– communications, and

– calculation of pension contributions

• This is likely to require data held by payroll and HR systems.

• Choices:

– payroll software, and/or

– non-payroll software or services (can be referred to as “middleware”) this may be offered by the pension scheme provider.


What pension schemes can be used?

must be registered in the UK or EEA* must have no barrier to automatic enrolment

must be a qualifying scheme

Automatic enrolment scheme

Qualifying scheme

must be tax registered: and meet minimum criteria

Workers already active members of a qualifying scheme do

not need to be automatically enrolled

Must be used for automatic

enrolment and ‘Opt-ins’

Employers will need to contribute

to the pension scheme

*European Economic Area states

Employers may also use a qualifying scheme

or an automatic enrolment scheme for

entitled workersScheme for

entitled workers scheme

is registeredEmployers are not required to make an

employer contribution


Min DC 8% total*

Min DC 5% total*

Minimum DC 2% total contribution*

DC scheme minimum contributions

Oct 2018Oct 2017

*% of qualifying earnings

Feb 2018

Min DC 2% employer*

Min DC 3% employer*

Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3

Oct 2012 May 2017April 2014 June 2015

Large employers

Medium employers

Small/micro employers

New

employers


Can you use an existing pension scheme?

• If an employer has an existing scheme, it may not be suitable for automatic enrolment.

• To be a qualifying scheme:– the contributions due must be at or above the minimum criteria– if it is a personal or GPP contract-based scheme, it is likely to need a

jobholder agreement for each active member

• If it is not a qualifying scheme, it may be possible to change the scheme rules to make it qualifying.

• Active members of a pension which is not qualifying would need to be assessed and, if eligible, automatically enrolled into another pension.

• If an employer wants to use this scheme to automatically enrol their workers:– the existing pension provider may not allow it be made an automatic

enrolment scheme (eg the pension provider may not provide Opt-out forms on request).

• Check with the pension provider.


The FCA regulations and choosing a pension

• Employers have the responsibility to select their pension scheme(s).

• Giving advice to employers on choice of pension scheme is not a regulated activity under the Financial Services & Markets Act 2000.

• As providing investment advice to individuals (or to an employer as an individual) is regulated, care should be taken by the service provider to avoid either of these situations - such as discussing pension provision with your client’s staff (as an unlicensed firm would be in breach).

• Unless you are very confident that you have the right level of skills and knowledge, we recommend you should not be expressing an opinion or giving advice on pension choice to employers and should only give fact based communication (eg information about all the pension schemes / providers you know to be available to employers of your client’s size/profile).

• Employers or their staff could hold you liable in the future, if they think it was a poor choice.


Choosing a pension scheme

• If an employer has an existing pension they will need to check with the provider if it is suitable for automatic enrolment, as many will not be.

• It is the responsibility of the employer to select a pension provider / scheme.

• The vast majority (over 90%) of people automatically enrolled will stay in the default fund - so this is an important factor when choosing a scheme.

• There are a number of pension providers which will accept small employers.

• National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) is a pension scheme set up by the government that all employers can use to meet their duties.

• Master Trusts pension providers can gain Master Trust Assurance* accreditation.

* This voluntary assurance framework was developed by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales (ICAEW) in association with The Pensions Regulator. The framework has been designed to evidence the key quality features set out in the regulator’s code of practice for DC master trusts schemes.


Choosing a new pension - how to find one

How will you find a pension if you need or want to use a new scheme?

• For further information and a list of pension providers see:

– The National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF)*

– The Association of British Insurers(ABI)*.

•Pension providers:

– not all pension providers may offer you a pension scheme

– some providers may be at full capacity or have long waiting times

– you should investigate more than one pension provider at a time

– information about their pensions can typically be found on their websites.

•National Employment Savings Trust (NEST)* is a pension scheme that all employers can use to meet their duties but don’t leave it too late.

* These can be found on our Useful links slide


Opting-in and joining


‘Opting-out’• Workers automatically enrolled (or who have opted in) may ‘Opt-out’.

• Employer must inform staff of their right to Opt-out and how to Opt-out.

• The employer must not give out or send out ‘Opt-out’ forms:

– requests to ‘Opt-out’ must be handled by the scheme provider, and

– completed forms would normally be sent to the employer.

• A one calendar month Opt-out window starts on the later of two dates: once the worker is an active member of the pension scheme, or when the employer gives a notice of enrolment letter/email to the worker.

• The worker will get a full refund of all contributions.

• Early Opt-outs (before the Opt-out window starts) - are not allowed.

• After the Opt-out window has closed, the worker may still request to cease membership of the pension scheme (under the scheme rules).

• A worker who has opted out does not need to be assessed again until the employer’s next re-enrolment date (occurs approx every 3 years).


Communicating to workers

• At staging, employers will need to communicate* to their workers (unless they are already in a qualifying pension scheme).

• Employers need to inform workers of their rights and whether they are being automatically enrolled or postponed.

• The deadlines for communication are within 6 weeks.

• Communications must be sent directly to the individual (eg by letter, email, HR web portal).

• We have provided example ‘template’ letters, which may be customised.

• www.tpr.gov.uk/employers/write-to-your-staff.aspx

* See our planning tool and ‘communicate to staff’


Communications to clients’ staff

• If you are going to send out the statutory communications for automatic enrolment to your clients’ workers, then you should avoid putting in additional information which could be considered a financial promotion (eg adding information on an opportunity for the worker to make a further investment in a particular fund).

• You may wish to use our letter templates which can be found at:

www.tpr.gov.uk/employers/write-to-your-staff.aspx


Cyclical re-enrolment


Record-keeping

• Employers must keep records* about their workers and the pension scheme used to comply with the employer duties (pension providers and trustees will also have duties to keep records).

• An employer can use electronic or paper filing systems to keep or store any records, as long as these records can be produced in a legible way.

• Most records must be kept for six years. Those that relate to opting-out must be kept for four years.

• The records must be provided to The Pensions Regulator, on request.

• We can conduct an inspection, if we have reasonable grounds to do so (for example, this may be as a result of a whistleblower alert).

* See planning tool and ‘keep records’


Declaration of compliance

• Employers must complete a declaration of compliance

• The deadlines are:– five months after the staging date and– two months after every re-enrolment date

• Employers may receive a penalty fine if they do not complete their declaration on time.

• Employers will need to provide certain details, for example: – which pension schemes were used to comply with the duties, and– the number of eligible jobholders automatically enrolled into each scheme.

• All postponements applied at the staging date must have come to an end before the declaration can be completed.

• You can start the online process early and partially complete your declaration.


Planning timeline - www.tpr.gov.uk/planner


Any questions?


Useful links• Staging date tool:

www.tpr.gov.uk/employers/tools/staging-date.aspx

• Planning tool:www.tpr.gov.uk/planner

• The essential guide to automatic enrolment:www.tpr.gov.uk/employers/e-brochure/index.html

• Our detailed guides for employers and pension professionals:www.tpr.gov.uk/pensions-reform/detailed-guidance.aspx

• Information about declaration of compliance:www.tpr.gov.uk/declaration

• Letter templates for employers:www.tpr.gov.uk/employers/letter-templates-for-employers.aspx


Useful links continued…

More information about pensions and automatic enrolment:

• The Association of British Insurers:www.abi.org.uk/pensionproviders

• The National Association of Pension Funds:www.napf.co.uk

• National Employment Savings Trust:www.nestpensions.org.uk

• Independent Financial Advisers:www.unbiased.co.uk www.vouchedfor.co.uk

• Friends of Automatic Enrolment:www.cipp.org.uk/en/the-pensions-faculty/friends-of-automatic-enrolment/

• The Pensions Regulator: www.tpr.gov.uk/docs/selecting-a-good-automatic-enrolment-scheme.pdf www.tpr.gov.uk/docs/introduction-code-13.pdf


We are here to help!

Request a guest speaker:https://secure.tpr.gov.uk/speaker-request.aspx

Contact us at:www.tpr.gov.uk/contact-us.aspx

Subscribe to our news by email:https://forms.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/subscribe.aspx

Connect with us on LinkedIn:www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2675456

Follow us on Twitter:https://twitter.com/TPRgovuk

Thank you

The information we provide is for guidance only and should not be taken as a definitive interpretation of the law.


Additional slides


Useful links - webinars

• Automatic enrolment – for business advisers.www.tpr.gov.uk/press/webinar-automatic-enrolment-for-business-advisers.aspx

• Automatic enrolment question time.www.tpr.gov.uk/press/webinar-automatic-enrolment-question-time.aspx

• Automatic enrolment declaration of compliance.www.tpr.gov.uk/press/webinar-automatic-enrolment-declaration-of-compliance.aspx

• Automatic enrolment – are you ready?www.tpr.gov.uk/press/webinar-automatic-enrolment-are-you-ready.aspx

• Automatic enrolment – dispelling the myths.www.tpr.gov.uk/press/webinar-automatic-enrolment-dispelling-the-myths.aspx

• Implementing automatic enrolment systems and pension schemes.www.tpr.gov.uk/press/webinar-implementing-automatic-enrolment-systems-schemes.aspx


Resources

• There is a ‘We’re all in’ poster available to download on our website (you can add your company name and logo) at

• www.tpr.gov.uk/employers/raising-awareness-about-automatic-enrolment.aspx


Staging dates for new employers

PAYE income is first payable in respect of any worker Staging date

From 1 April 2012 up to and including 31 March 2013 1 May 2017

From 1 April 2013 up to and including 31 March 2014 1 July 2017

From 1 April 2014 up to and including 31 March 2015 1 August 2017

From 1 April 2015 up to and including 31 December 2015 1 October 2017

From 1 January 2016 up to and including 30 September 2016 1 November 2017

From 1 October 2016 up to and including 30 June 2017 1 January 2018

From 1 July 2017 up to and including 30 September 2017 1 February 2018


Exception - workers in notice period

If notice is given or received by the worker (eg resignation or dismissal):

•before, or up to 6 weeks after, the automatic enrolment/re-enrolment date

then the employer does not have to enrol the worker.

During their notice period the worker cannot opt in or join.

If notice is withdrawn, then the enrolment duty will be effective from this date.


Exception - workers with HMRC tax protection

Where an employer has ‘reasonable grounds to believe’ (eg the worker shows

them documentary evidence) that a worker has HMRC tax protected status for

their pension savings (eg Primary, Enhanced or Fixed protection):

•the employer may choose not to automatically enrol/re-enrol them.

The worker would still have the right to opt in/join.


Exception - workers who have ceased active membership

For workers:•who contractually joined a qualifying pension scheme* and then ceased membership of that scheme, ahead of either their automatic enrolment (AE) date or the automatic re-enrolment (Re-AE) date, or •who have previously been automatically enrolled into a qualifying pension scheme and opted out or ceased membership of that scheme ahead of their automatic re-enrolment date

then:•if they ceased membership/opted-out more than 12 months before their AE date then they will have no duty to re-enrol them until the next cyclical re-enrolment date;•or, if they ceased membership/opted-out up to 12 months before the AE/Re-AE date - then the employer may choose whether or not to automatically enrol them if they are an eligible jobholder on their AE/Re-AE date.

If the employer chooses not to automatically enrol/re-enrol them the employer will have no duty to re-enrol them until the next cyclical re-enrolment date.

* or a pension scheme that would have been a qualifyingscheme if the worker had been a jobholder when they ceased


Exception - workers with winding-up lump sums

For a worker who has:i. ceased membership of a defined contribution (DC) scheme, andii. been paid a Winding-Up Lump Sum (WULS), andiii. ceased employment, and iv. is subsequently re-employed by the same employer ...

then:

•if they have an automatic enrolment / re-enrolment date which falls up to 12 months after the payment of the WULS,

the employer may choose whether to enrol them or leave them until the next cyclical re-enrolment (and the re-employed worker does not have the right to opt in or join during the 12 months after a WULS payment).

•or, if they have an automatic enrolment date which falls more then 12 months after the payment of the WULS,

then they will have no duty to re-enrol them until the next cyclical re-enrolment date.


You and the law

• All duties can be delegated to one or more service providers, but the responsibility remains with the employer.

• If these delegated duties are documented in a contract of service / engagement letter, this can help avoid misunderstandings or incorrect assumptions over who is responsible for each task.

• Accountancy firms will need to be mindful of any ethical rules the practice operates under, given they may become aware of employer non-compliance - and this may well depend on whether it is wilful or not.

• There is no statutory requirement to whistleblow in relation to employer duties under automatic enrolment (this only applies to failure to comply with duties related to the administration of a pension scheme).


Pensionable earnings

• Pensionable earnings can be based on qualifying earnings OR another definition (eg basic pay).

• When qualifying earnings are used to determine pensionable pay:– pension contributions are determined by the rules of the scheme, and– will be based on banded earnings between the lower earnings threshold

and upper earnings limit (currently £5,824*pa and £42,385*pa).

• If pensionable earnings are not based on qualifying earnings, the employer can self certify** if the scheme meets certain minimum criteria:– ‘Set 1’ - if basic pay from £1 is pensionable, or– ‘Set 2’ - if at least 85% of total pay (scheme average) is pensionable, or– ‘Set 3’ - if 100% of total pay is pensionable.

* Pro-rata of annual amount used in each Pay Reference Period. These figures are for 2015-2016. The Secretary of State will review this amount each tax year.

** For further details see the DWP guidance document: www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/307083/money-purchase-schemes-

guidance.pdf


DC self certification during phasing period

Up to 1st Oct 2017

1st Oct 2017 to 30th Sept

2018

From 1st Oct 2018

Pensionable Salary(Basis of

% Contributions)

Set 1

(Tier 1)

2% Employer/ 3% Total



Scheme Definition

(if >= basic pay from £1)

Set 2

(Tier 2)




85% of Total Pay (scheme average)

Set 3

(Tier 3)




100% of Total Pay


Using an existing contract-based pension scheme

• For a pension scheme to be a ‘qualifying scheme’:

– it needs to be tax registered,

– it needs to satisfy the minimum criteria (ie be at or above the legal min employer and total contributions, eg 1% and 2% before 1 Oct 2017),

– and, for a contract-based pension, the employer and pension provider must have a signed agreement, where the employer commits to pay at least the legal minimum employer contributions, and

– unless the employer agrees to pay at least the legal minimum total contribution (eg 2% before 1 Oct 2017) – there must be a jobholder agreement for each active member (an agreement by the member to pay the difference between the employer contributions and the legal minimum total contribution).

• Additional criteria apply for an automatic enrolment pension (which must also be a qualifying scheme).


• It is the employer’s responsibility to choose a pension scheme for their workers.

• Employers should consider what features are important for their workers, for example:– charges (there is a charge cap on default funds of 0.75% pa)– online member services– choice of funds other than the default strategy (Sharia, ethical)– options at retirement and/or from age 55 (eg drawdown options)– member communications (may be available in multiple languages)– whether they provide ‘one pot per member’ and rules on transfers

• The employer should document how they arrived at the criteria and why they made their final choice of pension.

For help on how to select a good scheme, please see:www.tpr.gov.uk/employers/setting-up-a-pension-scheme.aspx

Choosing a new pension - factors to consider


Worker information requirements

The number of letters required has been reduced and the information they contain simplified.

There are 4 occasions when communications are needed:

1. enrolment 2. postponement (one letter)3. worker’s right to opt in/join a scheme, and 4. when applying the transitional period.

You no longer need to distinguish between an entitled worker and a non eligible jobholder for communication purposes - or know that they have changed category if they are not an eligible jobholder.

And these letters are no longer required:• the entitled worker and non eligible jobholder tailored letters• the ‘already member of qualifying pension scheme’ letter

Note: Employers can still use the ‘old’ template letters if they wish to.


What to communicate to workers

• Non-eligible jobholders and entitled workers not already in a qualifying pension scheme must be provided with information* telling them about their right to Opt-in or join a pension scheme.

• For eligible jobholders being automatically enrolled (and non-eligible jobholders being enrolled after opting-in) they must be provided* with: information about their enrolment, what it means for them, including the contributions, and their right to Opt-out.

• Workers subject to a postponement need to be given key information* such as the length of the postponement period and their rights to Opt-in or join.

* See Useful links for template letters


Summary of deadlines

Action/Communication Deadline

Letter to workers who are not already in a qualifying pension scheme at staging

6 weeks after staging

Joining window, enrolment notifications and transitional period notices

6 weeks from the assessment date (eg before midnight of Tuesday 12 May, if assessed Wednesday 1 April).

Opt-out window 1 month from when both:• the enrolment notification is given, and• active membership is achieved.

Postponement notices 6 weeks from the day after the assessment date (eg before midnight Wednesday 13 May, if assessed on Wednesday 1 April).

Complete declaration of compliance after staging 5 months after staging

Complete declaration of compliance after re-enrolment 2 months after re-enrolment

Normal contribution payments to scheme provider 22nd day of the month following the month of deduction (19th day for non-electronic payments).

New member contribution payments to scheme provider (for all deductions made in first 3 months of membership)

22nd day (for electronic payments) of the first month, following a three month period starting the day active membership is effective (19th day for non-electronic payments) eg enrolments2 January to 1 February = e-payment deadline is 22 May.


Is Eddie a worker?

Eddie is a self employed graphic designer. He works regularly for a company, Acme Workshops Ltd.

His role is unique. He designs (and, if necessary, prints on his own equipment) all the flyers and magazine ads. He also designs and updates their website and forum. Eddie is very important to Acme Workshops’ marketing strategy. It is a nightmare when Eddie is too busy working for other customers, because his contract with Acme does not permit him to send a replacement.

Eddie works unsupervised and, generally, he works from home, but sometimes he works in the offices of Acme Workshops. Eddie invoices Acme Workshops at the end of each campaign design and guarantees the quality of his material.

Question 1 - Should Acme Workshops consider Eddie to be their worker?


Is Eddie a worker?

Eddie is a self employed graphic designer. He works regularly for a company, Acme Workshops Ltd.

His role is unique. He designs (and, if necessary, prints on his own equipment) all the flyers and magazine ads. He also designs and updates their website and forum. Eddie is very important to Acme Workshops’ marketing strategy. It is a nightmare when Eddie is too busy working for other customers, because his contract with Acme does not permit him to send a replacement.

Eddie works unsupervised and, generally, he works from home, but sometimes he works in the offices of Acme Workshops. Eddie invoices Acme Workshops at the end of each campaign design and guarantees the quality of his material.

Eddie cannot reasonably be considered a worker, as:

i) he is not an employee ii) he sometimes uses his own equipmentiii) he works unsupervised and iv) he guarantees the quality of his work


Is Georgina a worker?

Georgina is a self employed IT professional who works full time for Acme Workshops Ltd. Georgina supports Acme Workshops’ in house payroll system and is very important to Acme Workshops and no one else has the expertise to do her work when she’s on holiday.

Georgina works in Acme Workshops’ payroll team, alongside Acme Workshops’ own employees in their offices, but sometimes she is allowed to work from home. Georgina invoices Acme Workshops at the end of each month based on the number of days she has worked.

Should Acme Workshops consider Georgina to be their worker?


Is Georgina a worker?

Georgina is a self employed IT professional who works full time for Acme Workshops Ltd. Georgina supports Acme Workshops’ in house payroll system and is very important to Acme Workshops and no one else has the expertise to do her work when she’s on holiday.

Georgina works in Acme Workshops’ payroll team, alongside Acme Workshops’ own employees in their offices, but sometimes she is allowed to work from home. Georgina invoices Acme Workshops at the end of each month based on the number of days she has worked.

Should Acme Workshops consider Georgina to be their worker?

Georgina can reasonably be considered a worker, because: she is supervised by Acme (needs permission to work at home) she works in their offices (uses their office equipment and supplies), and she is paid a daily rate (the completed work is not guaranteed)

Auto Enrolment for Accountants | Accountex 2015

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