The Employers' Duties (Implementation) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012

Statutory Rules of Northern Ireland

2012 No. 332

Pensions

The Employers' Duties (Implementation) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012

Made

5th September 2012

Coming into operation

1st October 2012

The Department for Social Development makes the following Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 12, 29(2), 30(8) and 113(2) of the Pensions (No. 2) Act (Northern Ireland) 2008 M1.

Marginal Citations

Citation and commencementN.I.

1.  These Regulations may be cited as the Employers' Duties (Implementation) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012 and shall come into operation on 1st October 2012.

Amendment of the Employers' Duties (Implementation) RegulationsN.I.

2.—(1) The Employers' Duties (Implementation) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2010 M2 are amended in accordance with paragraphs (2) to (8).

(2) In regulation 1(2) (interpretation) for the definition of “staging date” substitute—

““staging date” means the date prescribed in accordance with regulation 2(1) on which the employers' duties apply to employers;”.

(3) In regulation 2 (application of the employers' duties to employers)—

(a)for paragraph (1) substitute—

“(1) Except where an employer satisfies the conditions for early automatic enrolment in regulation 3 M3, the employers' duties do not apply to employers described in the first column of the Table M4 until—

(a)the corresponding staging date prescribed in the third column of the Table, or

(b)in a case to which paragraph (1A) applies—

(i)the corresponding staging date prescribed in the third column of the Table, or

(ii)where the employer so chooses, the corresponding staging date prescribed in the third column of the Table as modified by regulation 4A M5.

(1A) This paragraph applies in a case where, on 1st April 2012, the employer—

(a)had less than 50 workers, and

(b)had, or was part of, one or more PAYE schemes M6 in which there were 50 or more persons.”;

(b)in paragraphs (6)(b) and (8)(a) for “1st April 2016” substitute “ 1st October 2017 ”;

(c)after paragraph (8) add—

“(9) This paragraph applies in the case of an employer who does not have a PAYE scheme in respect of any worker after 1st April 2017.

(10) Where paragraph (9) applies and the employers' duties do not already apply to that employer, the employers' duties apply to that employer from the date on which qualifying earnings are payable to any worker.”.

(4) In regulation 3 (early automatic enrolment)—

(a)after paragraph (1) insert—

“(1A) This regulation does not apply where the employer has chosen a staging date in accordance with regulation 2(1)(b)(ii).”;

(b)in paragraph (4)(b) M7 for “of that scheme” substitute “ of a pension scheme ”.

(5) In regulation 4 (staging of the employers' duties) in the Table for the entries from “Less than 50 with the last 2 characters in their PAYE reference numbers 92, A1-A9, AA-AZ, B1-B9, BA-BY, M1-M9, MA-MZ, Z1-Z9 or ZA-ZZ” to the end substitute—

“160-2491st March 20141st April 2014
90-1591st April 20141st May 2014
62-891st June 20141st July 2014
611st July 20141st August 2014
601st September 20141st October 2014
591st October 20141st November 2014
581st December 20141st January 2015
54-571st February 20151st March 2015
50-531st March 20151st April 2015
Less than 30 with the last 2 characters in their PAYE reference numbers 92, A1-A9, B1–B9, AA–AZ, BA-BW, M1-M9, MA-MZ, Z1-Z9, ZA-ZZ, 0A-0Z, 1A-1Z or 2A-2Z1st May 20151st June 2015
Less than 30 with the last 2 characters in their PAYE reference numbers BX1st June 20151st July 2015
40-491st July 20151st August 2015
Less than 30 with the last 2 characters in their PAYE reference numbers BY1st August 20151st September 2015
30-391st September 20151st October 2015
Less than 30 with the last 2 characters in their PAYE reference numbers BZ1st October 20151st November 2015
Less than 30 with the last 2 characters in their PAYE reference numbers 02-04, C1-C9, D1-D9, CA-CZ or DA-DZ1st December 20151st January 2016
Less than 30 with the last 2 characters in their PAYE reference numbers 00, 05-07, E1-E9 or EA-EZ1st January 20161st February 2016
Less than 30 with the last 2 characters in their PAYE reference numbers 01, 08-11, F1-F9, G1-G9, FA-FZ or GA-GZ1st February 20161st March 2016
Less than 30 with the last 2 characters in their PAYE reference numbers 12-16, 3A-3Z, H1-H9 or HA-HZ1st March 20161st April 2016
Less than 30 with the last 2 characters in their PAYE reference numbers I1-I9 or IA-IZ1st April 20161st May 2016
Less than 30 with the last 2 characters in their PAYE reference numbers 17-22, 4A-4Z, J1-J9 or JA-JZ1st May 20161st June 2016
Less than 30 with the last 2 characters in their PAYE reference numbers 23-29, 5A-5Z, K1-K9 or KA-KZ1st June 20161st July 2016
Less than 30 with the last 2 characters in their PAYE reference numbers 30-37, 6A-6Z, L1-L9 or LA-LZ1st July 20161st August 2016
Less than 30 with the last 2 characters in their PAYE reference numbers N1-N9 or NA-NZ1st August 20161st September 2016
Less than 30 with the last 2 characters in their PAYE reference numbers 38-46, 7A-7Z, O1-O9 or OA-OZ1st September 20161st October 2016
Less than 30 with the last 2 characters in their PAYE reference numbers 47-57, 8A-8Z, Q1-Q9, R1-R9, S1-S9, T1-T9, QA-QZ, RA-RZ, SA-SZ or TA-TZ1st October 20161st November 2016
Less than 30 with the last 2 characters in their PAYE reference numbers 58-69, 9A-9Z, U1-U9, V1-V9, W1-W9, UA-UZ, VA-VZ or WA-WZ1st December 20161st January 2017
Less than 30 with the last 2 characters in their PAYE reference numbers 70-83, X1-X9, Y1-Y9, XA-XZ or YA-YZ1st January 20171st February 2017
Less than 30 with the last 2 characters in their PAYE reference numbers P1-P9 or PA-PZ1st February 20171st March 2017
Less than 30 with the last 2 characters in their PAYE reference numbers 84-91 or 93-991st March 20171st April 2017
Less than 30 persons in the PAYE scheme not meeting any other description contained in the first column of this Table1st March 20171st April 2017
Employer who does not have a PAYE scheme1st March 20171st April 2017
New employer (PAYE income first payable between 1st April 2012 and 31st March 2013)1st April 20171st May 2017
New employer (PAYE income first payable between 1st April 2013 and 31st March 2014)1st June 20171st July 2017
New employer (PAYE income first payable between 1st April 2014 and 31st March 2015)1st July 20171st August 2017
New employer (PAYE income first payable between 1st April 2015 and 31st December 2015)1st September 20171st October 2017
New employer (PAYE income first payable between 1st January 2016 and 30th September 2016)1st October 20171st November 2017
New employer (PAYE income first payable between 1st October 2016 and 30th June 2017)1st December 20171st January 2018
New employer (PAYE income first payable between 1st July 2017 and 30th September 2017)1st January 20181st February 2018”.

(6) After regulation 4 insert—

“4A.—(1) For the purposes of regulation 2(1)(b)(ii), the date in the third column of the Table is modified in accordance with paragraph (2).

(2) Where the staging date in the third column of the Table is in the period—

(a)beginning with 1st October 2012 and ending on 1st November 2012, the modified date is 1st August 2015;

(b)beginning with 1st January 2013 and ending on 1st February 2013, the modified date is 1st October 2015;

(c)beginning with 1st March 2013 and ending on 1st April 2013, the modified date is 1st January 2016;

(d)beginning with 1st May 2013 and ending on 1st June 2013, the modified date is 1st February 2016;

(e)beginning with 1st July 2013 and ending on 1st August 2013, the modified date is 1st March 2016;

(f)beginning with 1st September 2013 and ending on 1st October 2013, the modified date is 1st April 2016;

(g)beginning with 1st November 2013 and ending on 1st January 2014, the modified date is 1st May 2016;

(h)beginning with 1st February 2014 and ending on 1st April 2014, the modified date is 1st July 2016;

(i)beginning with 1st May 2014 and ending on 1st July 2014, the modified date is 1st September 2016;

(j)beginning with 1st August 2014 and ending on 1st October 2014, the modified date is 1st November 2016;

(k)beginning with 1st November 2014 and ending on 1st January 2015, the modified date is 1st February 2017, or

(l)beginning with 1st March 2015 and ending on 1st April 2015, the modified date is 1st April 2017.”.

(7) In regulation 5(a) M8 (transitional periods for money purchase and personal pension schemes) for “4 years and 4 months” substitute “ 5 years and 3 months ”.

(8) In regulation 6 M9 (transitional period for defined benefits and hybrid schemes) for “4 years and 4 months” substitute “ 5 years and 3 months ”.

Marginal Citations

M2S.R. 2010 No. 123 as amended by S.R. 2012 No. 232

M3Regulation 3 was amended by regulation 3(4) of S.R. 2012 No. 232

M4The Table is amended by regulation 2(5) of these Regulations

M5Regulation 4A is inserted by regulation 2(6) of these Regulations

M6The definition of “PAYE scheme” was amended by regulation 3(2)(b) of S.R. 2012 No. 232

M7Paragraph (4)(b) was amended by regulation 3(4)(c)(iii) of S.R. 2012 No. 232

M8Regulation 5(a) was amended by regulation 3(5) of S.R. 2012 No. 232

M9Regulation 6 was amended by regulation 3(6) of S.R. 2012 No. 232

RevocationsN.I.

3.  Regulation 3(5) and (6) of the Automatic Enrolment (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012 M10 is revoked.

Marginal Citations

Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department for Social Development on 5th September 2012

L.S.

Anne McCleary

A senior officer of the

Department for Social Development

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Employers' Duties (Implementation) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2010 (“the 2010 Regulations”).

Regulation 2—

  • substitutes the definition of “staging date” in regulation 1(2) of the 2010 Regulations;

  • amends the staging date in regulation 2 of the 2010 Regulations;

  • inserts paragraph (1A) into regulation 3 of the 2010 Regulations to disapply that regulation where an employer chooses a modified staging date and make a minor correction to paragraph (4)(b) of that regulation;

  • amends the table of staging dates in regulation 4 of the 2010 Regulations;

  • modifies the date on which the employers' duties apply to certain employers who have fewer than 50 workers on 1st April 2012: those employers may choose to delay the date on which the automatic enrolment duties apply;

  • further amends the transitional period—

    • in regulation 5 of the 2010 Regulations during which the employer is able to phase in the rate at which contributions are payable by paying contributions at a lower rate until the end of the transitional period, and

    • in regulation 6 of the 2010 Regulations during which the employer can delay automatic enrolment for certain jobholders.

Regulation 3 makes consequential revocations.

An assessment of the impact on business of these Regulations is detailed in a Regulatory Impact Assessment, a copy of which has been laid in the Business Office and the Library of the Northern Ireland Assembly. Copies of the Assessment are available from the Department for Social Development, Social Security Policy and Legislation Division, Level 1, James House, 2-4 Cromac Avenue, Gasworks Business Park, Ormeau Road, Belfast BT7 2JA or from the website: http://www.dsdni.gov.uk/index/ssa/ssani-publications/ssani-pensions-publications.htm. A copy of the Assessment is also annexed to the Explanatory Memorandum which is available alongside this Statutory Rule on the website: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisr.