What is a pay period?

When you’re setting up with NEST we create worker groups for you based on the information you provide about what contributions you’ll pay and when you’ll pay them. When you enrol your workers into NEST you’ll enrol them into the group, or groups, that have been set up for you. The information you’ve provided during the set up will be automatically applied to these groups so you won’t need to enter this information again when you enrol your workers.

A group defines what contribution rates you’ll be paying, what part of a worker’s wages they’ll apply to, how often you’ll pay contributions and the date you’ll pay by.

If you’re using a payroll provider then it’s best to check the pay period dates you use for your groups to align with theirs. You might want to get help from someone who has a good understanding of your organisation’s payroll timelines, like your payroll provider.

During the set up process with NEST, you’ll have to create at least one group. To gather all the information you need to set up your NEST scheme, you may find it helpful to use our form Information needed to set up Nest (PDF) before you start.

After you’ve confirmed how you’re going to pay contributions to NEST you’ll need to tell us what you’ll pay and how often, by clicking on ‘When and what you’ll pay’. This is the final task in the set-up process.

Based on the information you provide, we’ll automatically create a group up for you to enrol your workers into.

There are two parts to creating a group. The first is setting up the right dates. We’ll ask you to tell us how often you pay your workers and when you’ll pay us by.

The second part to creating a group is to choose your contribution rates. This lets us know how you’re calculating your contributions and how much you’ll be paying. Please see How do I calculate contributions? for more information.

We’ll provide recommended settings for you, but you can edit these if you want to by clicking ‘Customise set-up’ or ‘Edit group’. Once you’ve confirmed when and what you’ll pay, a group will automatically be created for you.

Your first group name will be set to ‘My group’. You’ll have the option to edit this name if you want to. If you create multiple groups you may want to name them in a sequence to avoid any confusion.

Once you’ve completed all five tasks in the set up process your groups will be ready for you to enrol your workers into. Each worker group shares the same:

• payment deadline
• contribution rates
• earnings basis
• pay period, also known as earnings period.

If you need to set up any more groups after you’ve completed your initial set up you’ll be able to do this through the ‘Manage groups’ area from your NEST home page.