Non-eligible jobholder meaning

Jobholders have a statutory right to leave a scheme they’ve been put into by completing a valid opt-out notice and giving it to their employer within a set timeframe. Once a valid opt-out notice is lodged, the jobholder is regarded as though they were never in the scheme. The Pensions Regulator has published guidance setting out how opting out works, including eligibility to opt out, the relevant time limits, and the steps employers must take upon receipt of an opt-out notice. Who can opt out? Eligible jobholders may opt out after they have been automatically enrolled (or re-enrolled) into an automatic enrolment scheme. Non-eligible jobholders who have opted in to an automatic enrolment scheme may opt out after they have been enrolled. Employers cannot opt out on behalf of jobholders. An employer who impersonated temporary workers to opt them out unlawfully was prosecuted by the Pension Regulator and ultimately faced a substantial fine and a custodial sentence...

ARCHIVED This Practice Note is archived and no longer maintained. In addition to using postponement, employers running defined benefit or hybrid schemes may defer auto-enrolment for eligible jobholders until 30 September 2017 (the transitional period), provided specific conditions are met. Where an employer defers auto-enrolment for that transitional period for eligible jobholders and does not apply a further postponement of up to three months after it ends, the auto-enrolment duties take effect: on the day following the end of the transitional period (ie 1 October 2017), or earlier, on the day after the date the transitional period stops applying (for example, because a condition is no longer met) If a postponement period is applied after the transitional period ends, the duties start on the deferral date. Note that any eligible jobholder who is not already actively participating in the scheme may opt in to active membership at any point during the transitional period. For more detail on postponement, see Practice Note:...

Automatic enrolment duties The auto-enrolment framework, created under Part 1 of the Pensions Act 2008 (PenA 2008), places three principal enrolment obligations on employers: automatically enrol every ‘eligible jobholder’ into an ‘automatic enrolment scheme’ (the auto-enrolment duty) enrol ‘non-eligible jobholders’ into an ‘automatic enrolment scheme’ when they opt in enrol ‘entitled workers’ who ask to join a scheme into a registered pension scheme In broad terms, from 2017 the enrolment duties take effect for an employer on the date their first worker starts employment. The minimum quality criteria an automatic enrolment scheme must meet depend on the type of arrangement, for example whether it is a defined benefit (DB) or defined contribution (DC) scheme. To assist employers in meeting the auto-enrolment duty, the government set up a low-cost pension scheme — the National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) — which was fully compliant. Many employers still use NEST, and the government together with the Pensions Regulator have also issued rules and...

Automatic enrolment does not apply to workers under age 22. Individuals younger than 22 fall outside automatic enrolment. However, anyone aged 16 to 21 with qualifying earnings of £6,032 or above in the 2018–19 tax year may choose to join their employer’s automatic enrolment arrangement and receive employer pension contributions. For the purposes of limb (a) in section 230(3) of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA 1996), a worker is an individual who has entered into, or works or worked under, a contract of employment. Under ERA 1996, section 230(2), a contract of employment means a contract of service or apprenticeship. An apprenticeship agreement meeting the requirements of the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 is treated as a contract of service, not a contract of apprenticeship. See Practice Notes: Employee status and Apprenticeships...

Practice Note: TUPE—what pension benefits should the transferee provide? The Pensions Regulator, in its auto-enrolment guidance 2, indicates that when a TUPE transfer occurs, employees who move across are regarded as new joiners of the incoming employer (the transferee)...