Below is an overview of the configuration process:
Register any relevant pension schemes with the pension regulator (outside Coins ERP+).
Set the parameters.
Record the staging date.
Set the annual thresholds.
Set up a pay item to record earnings for auto-enrolment, and add this to the Configuration screen and to the employee sequences.
Identify each qualifying pension scheme and mark whether it is a contract-based scheme.
If desired, specify which schemes the notification types will be created for.
Create the necessary email and document templates for notifications.
Detailed Configuration
Staging Date
Record the staging date (the date when automatic enrolment is switched on for your business) on the PAYE scheme tab in HMRC Workbench.
Staging Date Field on the HMRC Workbench
Annual Thresholds
In Annual Details for Tax Year, record the following amounts (as set by law):
QELT Qualifying Earnings Lower Threshold
QEUT Qualifying Earnings Upper Threshold
AET Auto-enrolment Trigger
Annual Details Auto enrolment Fields
These values are held as annual values: Coins ERP+ converts to period-specific by dividing by the number of periods and rounding up to whole pounds. For example if annual threshold is £42,475 then to get 4-weekly we divide by 13 which gives £3,267.308, and this is rounded up to £3,268.
Pay Items
In Pay Items, set up a new pay item, to which all the components that contribute to the earnings for auto-enrolment figure (as specified by the Pensions Regulator) need to be added.
In company Configuration, on the Significant Item Numbers tab, enter the number of this pay item in the Earnings for Auto enrolment field.
Payroll Configuration Significant Item Numbers Fields
In Item Sequences, add this new pay item to any relevant sequence definitions and update the individual employee sequences.
After the calculation:
The input field on this item will hold the total auto-enrolment earnings.
The period amount field will hold the qualifying earnings.
The rate field will hold a flag for the category of worker, as follows: 0 – non-entitled, 1 – entitled worker, 2 – non-eligible worker, 3 – eligible worker
Pension Schemes
In Pensions, for each qualifying pension, record:
That the scheme has been certified – that is, it is a qualifying pension.
Whether it is contract-based (a group personal pension scheme) and a pension provider has been appointed to run the scheme.
Pension Details Auto enrolment Fields
Notification Types
In Lookup Codes, the "Pension Auto enrolment Notification Types" lookup type holds the notification types used by the software. Coins ERP+ creates these automatically; you can identify which pension schemes each notification type will be automatically created for (for example, if a pension provider is handling notifications for a scheme, you may not want to include notifications in that scheme). Leaving the Pension Schemes field blank means the notification will be created for all schemes.
For details of the individual types, see UK Pension Auto-enrolment - Notification Types.
Employee Maintenance
Payroll will automatically enrol employees when the pay calculation is run (see UK Pension Auto-enrolment - Pay Calculation), if they are eligible jobholders.
For employees who already belong to a qualifying pension scheme, Coins ERP+ will update the employee record to show this. Eligible jobholders already in non-qualifying schemes will additionally be enrolled into a qualifying scheme.
If an employee is to be enrolled in a qualifying scheme other than the default scheme, fill in the scheme name in Employee Maintenance.
If you want to email notifications where possible, you need to populate the employee email address. This can be done using Employee Maintenance or using the Employee Load.
Notification Templates
As part of the auto-enrolment process, Coins ERP+ generates notifications to employees and pension providers. These notifications can be sent by email, produced as a printable document, or generated as a mail merge data file you can use with external software. The Pensions Regulator website gives more information about the requirements for notifications, and provides some letter templates you can base notifications on. However you will need to prepare the templates in the format that Coins ERP+ uses.
Use Merge File Maintenance to identify the necessary templates (email and document) for each type of notification and to associate the files with each of the functions (pages) on which you want them to be available.
The names of the files generated by the merge process are based on the name of the merge file, so it is a good idea to make the merge file names meaningful.
%WPR387REMP Notifications Report (merge area – all pay frequencies)
%WPR02040BENO Weekly Employee Notifications
%WPR12040BENO Monthly Employee Notifications
%WPR22040BENO 2-Weekly Employee Notifications
%WPR32040BENO 4-Weekly Employee Notifications
Merge File Maintenance Showing Files Set Up for the Notification Report
Parameters
Set the following parameters for each pay frequency you use (in the Pensions parameter group in Frequency-Specific Payroll Parameters):
Parameters
p0/AEDEFRUL - Auto enrolment deferral rule when eligible
Deferral rule to use for auto enrolment when an employee becomes an eligible jobholder:
NONE = no deferment.
NP = Auto enrol at the start of the next pay reference period.
NY = Auto enrol at the start of the next pay reference period provided this is not the last period in the year - if it is then delay the auto enrolment until the first period of the following year.
LP = Auto enrol at the start of the last possible pay reference period.
LY = Auto enrol at the start of the last possible pay reference period provided this is not the last period in the year - if it is then bring forward the auto enrolment to the last but one period of the year.
MAX = defer until the maximum allowed deferral date.
p0/AEPCNTCO - Auto enrolment minimum total pension contribution
The percentage of qualifying earnings the combined pension contributions should meet or exceed.
If the combined pension contributions do not meet this percentage of qualifying earnings, you will be given a warning by the pay calculation. This applies to employees who belong to a qualifying pension scheme, whether auto-enrolled or added manually.
p0/AEPCNTEE - Auto enrolment minimum employee pension contribution
The percentage of qualifying earnings the employee pension contributions should meet or exceed.
If the employee pension contributions do not meet this percentage of qualifying earnings, you will be given a warning by the pay calculation. This applies to employees who belong to a qualifying pension scheme, whether auto-enrolled or added manually.
p0/AEPCNTER - Auto enrolment minimum employer pension contribution
The percentage of qualifying earnings the employer pension contributions should meet or exceed.
If the employer pension contributions do not meet this percentage of qualifying earnings, you will be given a warning by the pay calculation. This applies to employees who belong to a qualifying pension scheme, whether auto-enrolled or added manually.
p0/AESCHEME - Default auto enrolment pension scheme
The default pension scheme to use for auto enrolment.
This can be just one qualifying scheme number or a comma-separated list of two schemes where the first is a qualifying scheme and the second a non-qualifying scheme to be used for entitled workers (employees aged between 16 and 74 who do not have qualifying earnings) who request to join a pension scheme.
You can override the default scheme for an employee on the employee record.