Picture the scene: Your teacher tells you that from now on, at the end of every class, you have to do a really hard maths equation. In fact, you have to do a maths equation for every student in the class. If you don’t do these correctly then she’s going to take your pocket money and tell your parents. To help you do the equations she hands you a pencil. Not even a calculator – a pencil.
Welcome to HMRC Basic PAYE Tools (BPT) and auto-enrolment. If you hadn’t guessed, BPT is the pencil.
If you are an employer then you know about auto-enrolment and your employer obligations. Automatic enrolment has been rolled out over the past couple of years and now the setup process is over for employers. Nothing left to do. We can all go home.. HA! Yeah right! *Cue demonic laugh from the Pension Regulator*.
As an employer you must continue to make payments that are due into the scheme every time you run payroll.
Naturally, employers across the country are still fretting about this. Why? Because The Pension Regulator monitors the contributions that are paid by employers into workplace pensions and they can tell if incorrect payments are being made (or not being made at all) into your staff’s auto-enrolment scheme and they will take action if you fail to comply. It is a continuous obligation that needs to be carried out all the time.
Let’s talk about BPT for a second. It’s essentially a spreadsheet template that you type information into. Sure, you could use it to calculate contributions and the contributions rates for 2018 and onwards. You could also watch paint dry. Both would be equally as long and tedious.
The Pension Regulator do offer a very in-depth set of instructions on their website on how to use this spreadsheet. The problem is, the margin for human error is huge. (Even the Pension Regulator themselves advise employers to use payroll software for their auto-enrolment duties).
This, coupled with the fact that these contributions are constantly being monitored and that you will be fined if there are any problems is enough to make a grown man cry (we all saw you in the storeroom, Craig). You have to be really clever to get all these calculations right every time. But you know what else is clever? Getting a payroll software that basically automates this automatic enrolment process for you. Luckily the clever clogs at BrightPay are here to help.
BrightPay is not just the calculator (yes we’re still using this analogy) it’s a supercomputer, first in its class. It will automatically import your HMRC Basic PAYE Tools data and handle ALL the administrative auto enrolment tasks at no extra cost. It also includes the NEST API, The People’s Pension API, Smart Pension API and the Aviva API which means that the upload of auto-enrolment data is automated. Yes, AUTOMATED.
Another major advantage of BrightPay is that it generates payslips that clearly state pension contributions.
BrightPay basically does all the work for you every time you run payroll. Think of all the things you could do with those saved hours – you could read a book, take up a hobby or do what I do in my spare time and watch 12 consecutive episodes of Judge Judy whileeating pizza. The world is your oyster! Live your best life!
To make things even better BrightPay is just £229 + VAT for a bureau licence with unlimited employers AND employees (Support is included in this price – no you are not dreaming). To top it all off, BrightPay won the Payroll Software of the year award at this year’s Accounting Excellence Awards. For more information head to HERE.