These Regulations may be cited as the Employers’ Duties (Registration and Compliance) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2010 and shall come into operation on F11st July 2012 immediately after the coming into operation of regulation 4(2)(a) of the Automatic Enrolment (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012 .

In these Regulations—

• “automatic re-enrolment date” has the same meaning as in section 5(8);

• “contributions payable by an employer” means contributions payable by the employer—

  1. a

     on the employer’s own account (but in respect of the worker), or

  2. b

     on behalf of the worker out of deductions from the worker’s earnings;

• “the employers’ duties” means sections 2 to 9;

• “employer duty provisions” has the same meaning as in section 34(3);

• “employer pension scheme reference” means—

  1. a

     F2in relation to an occupational pension scheme (except a scheme established under section 67 of the Pensions Act 2008 )—

     1. i

        a reference given by the Regulator (R) to the trustees or managers of the scheme (T) following the provision of registrable information to R by T, and

     2. ii

        any reference provided to the employer by T evidencing the relationship between the employer and the scheme;

  2. b

     in relation to a scheme established under section 67 of the Pensions Act 2008, a reference given by that scheme prior to registration to an employer using the same scheme to comply with the employer duty provisions, or

  3. c

     in relation to a personal pension scheme, a reference given by that scheme prior to registration to an employer using the same scheme to comply with the employer duty provisions;

• “HMRC” means Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs;

• “the Implementation Regulations” means the Employers’ Duties (Implementation) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 20104;

• “joining notice” means a notice given under section 9(2);

• “late payment report” means a notice given by a trustee or manager of a trust or occupational or personal pension scheme to the Regulator under—

  1. a

     section 107A(7A) of the Pension Schemes Act5;

  2. b

     Article 49(9)(b) of the 1995 Order6, or

  3. c

     Article 86(1) of the 1995 Order7;

• “opt in notice” means a notice given under section 7(3);

• “opt out notice” means a notice given under section 8;

• “PAYE income” has the same meaning as in section 683(1) of the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 20038;

• “PAYE scheme” means the HMRC record F3applicable to an employer who—

  1. a

     employs, or

  2. b

     intends to employ,

  a worker to whom PAYE income is payable;

• “registrable information” has the same meaning as in Article 55 of the 2005 Order;

• “registration” means the process by which employers are required to provide the Regulator with information about action they have taken or intend to take for the purposes of—

  1. a

     any provision of sections 2 to 9, and

  2. b

     any regulations made under those sections,

  as set out in regulations 2 to 4 of these Regulations;

• “retail prices index” means—

  1. a

     the general index of retail prices (for all items) published by the Statistics Board9, or

  2. b

     where that index is not published for a month, any substituted index or figures published by the Board;

• “staging date” has the same meaning as in regulation 1(2) of the Implementation F4Regulations.

• F5...

Without prejudice to any other method of service of documents, any document under these Regulations may be sent by ordinary post.

In these Regulations any reference to a numbered section is a reference to the section of the Pensions (No. 2) Act (Northern Ireland) 2008 bearing that number.