How do my contribution levels and earnings basis affect my contribution rates?

When you set up your contribution rates we’ll ask you to add contribution levels and an earnings basis.

The options you have for your contribution rates are:

• Pay the 2019 minimum contribution rates straight away - The contribution rates are immediately set to the legal minimum that will be required from 2019.
• Choose your own contribution rates - You can choose to use your own contribution rates. It’s important that the rates you choose still meet the legal minimum contribution rates.

The contribution rates you choose here are the minimum percentages we’ll expect each pay period. You can pay more than the minimum rates by increasing the contribution amount in the payment schedule. This can be done if you’ve set an upper limit of contributions for your group. For more information please see Why would I set an upper limit on contributions?

The rates may vary depending on the earnings basis selected. The options you have to choose from for your earnings basis are:

• qualifying earnings
• pensionable earnings for Tier 1 certification
• pensionable earnings for Tier 2 certification
• pensionable earnings for Tier 3 certification
• your own definition of pensionable earnings that you won’t certify.

For more information about each earnings basis please see How do I calculate contributions?