Change to UCL pensions: auto enrolment

The biggest statutory change in pensions for thirty years will soon come in effect at UCL.

Under 'Auto Enrolment' (AE) regulations, UCL will be required to automatically enter employees who meet the criteria set out below into one of its pension schemes (USS or SAUL), if those employees are not already in a pension scheme.

UCL's staging date for AE is the1st March 2013. We will however be employing a postponement period and will implement AE from 1 June 2013. This postponement will enable us and the relevant pension schemes to finalise our procedures.

UCL already meets most of the statutory requirements of AE through the automatic admission of full or part time staff into USS or SAUL. Some staff, such as As and When employees or casual workers, are currently required to elect to join either USS or SAUL. This will change from June this year as they will be auto-enrolled.

From 1 June 2013, UCL will be required to automatically enrol into SAUL or USS;

• as a one off exercise, all full, or part time employees not currently in a scheme;
• all As and When employees or casual workers who are aged between 22 and State Pension Age and whose annual earnings (or potential earnings) are assessed as being in excess of £9,440 (£787 per month).

In addition, we will have to monitor, on an ongoing monthly basis, the earnings of those employees who currently do not meet the age and pay requirements, but who may do so in future pay periods.

All UCL staff will receive an e-mail and / or letter in February informing them how AE impacts on them. For most of us AE will not however have any material affect.

Further information on Auto Enrolment can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/workplacepensions

Employees should direct any specific queries to pensions@ucl.ac.uk and contain the subject of Auto Enrolment in the e-mail subject header.

Jon Everard, Head of Payroll and Operational Services, Human Resources Division