The Employers’ Duties (Implementation) Regulations 2010

Made: 5th January 2010

Laid before Parliament: 12th January 2010

Coming into force: 1st September 2012

The Secretary of State makes the following Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 12, 29(2) and (4), 30(8), 99 and 144(2) and (4) of the Pensions Act 2008 :

Citation, commencement and interpretation

1

• (1) These Regulations may be cited as the Employers' Duties (Implementation) Regulations 2010 and shall come into force on 1st June 2012, immediately after the time when the amendments to these Regulations made by the Automatic Enrolment (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2012 come into force.

• (2) In these Regulations—

• “the Act” means the Pensions Act 2008;

• “deferral date” means the date specified in a notice given by an employer under regulation 4B(1) or (2);

• “employer, except in regulations 4B and 4C,” has the meaning given by–section 88(7) of the Act; andregulation 2(2);

• “the employers' duties” means sections 2 to 9 of the Act;

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

• “PAYE income” has the same meaning as in section 683 of the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 ;

• “PAYE reference number” means a number issued by HMRC to a corresponding PAYE scheme, enabling an employer to pay over amounts deducted to HMRC;

• “PAYE scheme” means the HMRC record applicable to an employer who–employs; orintends to employ,a worker or workers to whom PAYE income is payable;

• “scheme administrator” has the same meaning as in section 270 of the Finance Act 2004 ; and

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

Application of the employers' duties to employers

2

• (1) Except where an employer satisfies the conditions for early automatic enrolment in regulation 3, the employers’ duties do not apply to employers described in the first column of the table in regulation 4 until—

• (a) the corresponding staging date prescribed in the final column of that table; or

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

• (i) the corresponding staging date prescribed in the final column of that table in regulation 4; or

• (ii) where the employer so chooses, the corresponding staging date prescribed in the final column of the table as modified by regulation 4A.

• (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 in which there were 50 or more persons.

• (2) For the purposes of these Regulations (except for regulations 4B and 4C), an employer is a person within the meaning of section 88(7) of the Act who—

• (a) has , or is part of, a PAYE scheme of any size, determined by the Regulator in accordance with paragraphs (3) and (4); or

• (b) meets any other description contained in the first column of the table in regulation 4 (including having no PAYE scheme).

• (3) The size of an employer's PAYE scheme means the number of persons within that scheme.

• (4) The number of persons within a PAYE scheme is based on the latest information available to the Regulator, as at 1st April 2012.

• (5) Where—

• (a) the employers' duties first apply to an employer in accordance with the table in regulation 4; and

• (b) for any reason, an employer has another PAYE scheme (or schemes),

the employers' duties apply to that employer in respect of the scheme (or schemes) mentioned in subparagraph (b) from the staging date applicable in relation to subparagraph (a) (and this is so even where the staging date mentioned in the table for any such scheme (or schemes) is later than the staging date referred to in subparagraph (a)).

• (6) Any employer who first pays PAYE income in respect of a worker between—

• (a) 1st April 2012; and

• (b) up to (but not including) 1st October 2017,

is to be treated as a new employer in accordance with the relevant entry in the first column of the table in regulation 4.

• (7) Where paragraph (6) applies, the employers' duties do not apply to such an employer until PAYE income is first payable in respect of any worker and then only in accordance with the table in regulation 4.

• (8) Where—

• (a) an employer first pays PAYE income in respect of any worker on or after 1st October 2017; and

• (b) the employers’ duties do not already apply to that employer,

the employers’ duties apply to that employer from the day on which the employer’s first worker begins to be employed by the employer.

• (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 the employer’s first worker begins to be employed by the employer.

Early automatic enrolment

3

• (1) Where the conditions in paragraphs (3) and (4) are both satisfied, the employers' duties apply to an employer from the early automatic enrolment date referred to in paragraph (5).

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

• (2) Where the condition in paragraph (3) is satisfied but the condition in paragraph (4) is not satisfied, the employers' duties apply to an employer from the staging date corresponding to that employer's description ... .

• (3) The first condition is that an employer must fall within any description in the first column of the table in regulation 4.

• (4) The second condition is that an employer has chosen an early automatic enrolment date referred to in paragraph (5) for the employers' duties to apply, which is earlier than the date mentioned in the final column of that table corresponding to that employer, and has—

• (a) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (b) where, on the date the employer notifies the Regulator in accordance with sub-paragraph (c), the duty in section 3(2) of the Act (automatic enrolment) applies in relation to at least one of that employer’s jobholders, secured the agreement of the trustees or managers (or scheme administrator or provider) of a pension scheme that that scheme is to be used by the employer to comply with those duties from that early automatic enrolment date; and

• (c) notified the Regulator accordingly in writing, at any time—

• (i) where paragraph (5)(a) or (d) applies, on or before the early automatic enrolment date;

• (ii) where paragraph (5)(b) applies, before 1st November 2012; or

• (iii) where paragraph (5)(c) applies, no later than the first day of the period of one month before the date specified in that sub-paragraph.

• (5) The early automatic enrolment date is—

• (a) any date in the final column of the table in regulation 4 which is earlier than the staging date corresponding to that employers' description;

• (b) 1st December 2012; ...

• (c) in the case of an employer of 50,000 or more persons by PAYE scheme size or any other description, one of the following dates to be chosen by the employer—

• (i) 1st July 2012;

• (ii) 1st August 2012; or

• (iii) 1st September 2012; or

• (d) in the case of an employer who has no jobholder to whom the duty in section 3(2) of the Act applies on the date the employer notifies the Regulator in accordance with paragraph (4)(c)(i), any date which is earlier than the staging date corresponding to that employer’s description.

Staging of the employers' duties

4

• (1) The table in this regulation sets out the application of the employers' duties.

• (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (3) ......

Employer (by PAYE scheme size or other description)	Date before which notification to automatically enrol early must be sent	Staging date
120,000 or more	. . .	1st October 2012
50,000-119,999		1st November 2012
30,000-49,999		1st January 2013
20,000-29,999		1st February 2013
10,000-19,999		1st March 2013
6,000-9,999		1st April 2013
4,100-5,999		1st May 2013
4,000-4,099		1st June 2013
3,000-3,999		1st July 2013
2,000-2,999		1st August 2013
1,250-1,999		1st September 2013
800-1,249		1st October 2013
500-799		1st November 2013
350-499		1st January 2014
250-349		1st February 2014
160-249		1st April 2014
90-159		1st May 2014
62-89		1st July 2014
61		1st August 2014
60		1st October 2014
59		1st November 2014
58		1st January 2015
54-57		1st March 2015
50-53		1st 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-2Z		1st June 2015
Less than 30 with the last 2 characters in their PAYE reference numbers BX		1st July 2015
40 - 49		1st August 2015
Less than 30 with the last 2 characters in their PAYE reference numbers BY		1st September 2015
30-39		1st October 2015
Less than 30 with the last 2 characters in their PAYE reference numbers BZ		1st 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-DZ		1st January 2016
Less than 30 with the last 2 characters in their PAYE reference numbers 00, 05-07, E1-E9 or EA-EZ		1st 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-GZ		1st March 2016
Less than 30 with the last 2 characters in their PAYE reference numbers 12-16, 3A-3Z, H1-H9 or HA-HZ		1st April 2016
Less than 30 with the last 2 characters in their PAYE reference numbers I1-I9 or IA-IZ		1st May 2016
Less than 30 with the last 2 characters in their PAYE reference numbers 17-22, 4A-4Z, J1-J9 or JA-JZ		1st June 2016
Less than 30 with the last 2 characters in their PAYE reference numbers 23-29, 5A-5Z, K1-K9 or KA-KZ		1st July 2016
Less than 30 with the last 2 characters in their PAYE reference numbers 30-37, 6A-6Z, L1-L9 or LA-LZ		1st August 2016
Less than 30 with the last 2 characters in their PAYE reference numbers N1-N9 or NA-NZ		1st September 2016
Less than 30 with the last 2 characters in their PAYE reference numbers 38-46, 7A-7Z, O1-O9 or OA-OZ		1st 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-TZ		1st 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-WZ		1st 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-YZ		1st February 2017
Less than 30 with the last 2 characters in their PAYE reference numbers P1-P9 or PA-PZ		1st March 2017
Less than 30 with the last 2 characters in their PAYE reference numbers 84-91 or 93-99		1st April 2017
Less than 30 persons in the PAYE scheme not meeting any other description contained in the first column of this table		1st April 2017
Employer who does not have a PAYE scheme		1st April 2017
New employer ( PAYE income first payable between 1st April 2012 and 31st March 2013)		1st May 2017
New employer ( PAYE income first payable between 1st April 2013 and 31st March 2014)		1st July 2017
New employer ( PAYE income first payable between 1st April 2014 and 31st March 2015)		1st August 2017
New employer ( PAYE income first payable between 1st April 2015 and 31st December 2015)		1st October 2017
New employer ( PAYE income first payable between 1st January 2016 and 30th September 2016)		1st November 2017
New employer ( PAYE income first payable between 1st October 2016 and 30th June 2017)		1st January 2018
New employer ( PAYE income first payable between 1st July 2017 and 30th September 2017)		1st February 2018

Transitional periods for money purchase and personal pension schemes

5

For the purposes of section 29 of the Act (transitional periods for money purchase and personal pension schemes)—

• (a) the first transitional period ... , beginning with the coming into force of section 20 (quality requirement: UK money purchase schemes), ends on, but includes, 5th April 2018; and

• (b) the second transitional period is one year beginning with 6th April 2018 and ending on, but including, 5th April 2019.

Transitional period for defined benefits and hybrid schemes

6

For the purposes of section 30 of the Act (transitional period for defined benefits and hybrid schemes), the transitional period for defined benefits and hybrid schemes..., beginning with the day on which section 3 (automatic enrolment) comes into force , ends on, but includes, 30th September 2017 .

Signed

Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.

Angela Eagle — Minister of State, — 2010-01-05

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

Footnotes

[^f00001]: 2008 c.30. Section 99 is cited because of the meaning it gives to “prescribed” and “regulations”.

[^f00002]: 2003 c.1. Section 683 has been amended but not in a way material to these Regulations.

[^f00003]: 2004 c.12.

[^f00004]: 1971 c.80. Paragraph 2 was amended by the St. Andrew’s Day Bank Holiday (Scotland) Act 2007 (2007 asp 2), section 1.

Editorial notes

[^c20097451]: 2008 c.30. Section 99 is cited because of the meaning it gives to “prescribed” and “regulations”.

[^c22560461]: Words in reg. 1(1) substituted (1.6.2012) by The Automatic Enrolment (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2012 (S.I. 2012/215), regs. 1(2)(b), 3(a)

[^c20097461]: 2003 c.1. Section 683 has been amended but not in a way material to these Regulations.

[^c22560481]: Word in reg. 1(2) substituted (1.6.2012) by The Automatic Enrolment (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2012 (S.I. 2012/215), regs. 1(2)(a), 3(b)

[^c20097471]: 2004 c.12.

[^c22560501]: Words in reg. 2(2)(a) inserted (1.6.2012) by The Automatic Enrolment (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2012 (S.I. 2012/215), regs. 1(2)(a), 4

[^c22560521]: Reg. 3(1) substituted (1.6.2012) by The Automatic Enrolment (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2012 (S.I. 2012/215), regs. 1(2)(a), 5(a)