Q I am the owner of a large pub with 10 employees. I have heard that stakeholder pensions have now been introduced and that I should provide one for my employees. Where can I find out more information?
A You should consult with an accountant or a financial adviser straight away. Any person who employs more than five people who earn at least £3,485 per annum must provide a stakeholder pension by October 8 2001. The accountant will be able to help you with finding an appropriate stakeholder pension scheme so that you can be sure that the scheme is in place by the deadline. The accountant will also be able to advise of the details that you should be aware of. As a very basic starting point you should be aware of the following:
- you must provide access to the scheme to all employees who have been employed for three continuous months.
- you must provide a facility to allow pension contributions to be deducted from employees' salaries and for these to be paid to the pension scheme provider.
- contributions can be made weekly, monthly or at any other agreed period. All contributions to the pension scheme that have been deducted from your employees' wages must be sent to the scheme provider within 19 days from the end of the month in which the deduction is made.
- you as the employer are not required to contribute towards the pension although you may do so if you wish.
- when you have selected a stakeholder pension scheme you must carry out checks to make sure that the scheme is registered with the Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority.
You should also note that you are not allowed to give your employees any financial advice. Financial advice can only be given to persons by advisers registered with the Financial Services Agency. As mentioned above, it is vital that you consult with a suitable accountant or other qualified person to assist you with setting up the stakeholder pension scheme.