Telling NEST when and what you'll pay
In this section
Why do I have to select a payment due date and which date should I choose?
The deadline for contribution payments (the payment due date) tells us when we can expect to receive money from you for workers’ contributions. The latest date by when contributions must have cleared in our bank account for any group is the 22nd of the month after you paid your workers, unless you’re holding on to contributions for workers during their opt-out period.
For example, if a worker is paid on the 10th day of the month we need to receive the cleared funds in our bank account by the 22nd day of the next month.
This applies to other pay frequencies too. For example, if a worker gets paid four times in a month then contributions in respect of all these pay periods need to be with us by the 22nd of the following month.
We’ll provide a suggested payment due date when you tell us how often you pay your workers. You can choose to select a payment due date that’s earlier than this, and then by law you must pay contributions to us no later than the payment due dates you tell us. ‘Paid’ means that the funds must have cleared in our bank account, not just that you have submitted your schedules for payment by that date.
This means you must take into account:
- how long it takes to collect the contribution information
- the time it’ll take you to complete the schedules on your account
- the time it takes for different methods of payment to clear.
To help you make contributions on time, you’ll be able to complete your contribution schedules and pay contributions before they’re due.
Below are the timeframes when your contribution schedules will become available:
- on a monthly or four-weekly basis, you can access your schedule 17 days in advance
- on a fortnightly basis, you can access your schedule 14 days in advance
- on a weekly basis, you can access your schedule 10 days in advance.
When setting your deadline, remember to give yourself enough time to fix any errors and for the payment to reach us before your payment due date. To make sure you meet the deadline it’s a good idea to mark the date you need to start processing contribution payments in your calendar.
It’s your responsibility to make sure your contributions reach us on time.
If the payment due date has passed and we haven’t received a payment we’ll class this as a late payment. It’s important to make all payments on time otherwise you’ll receive a late payment message and may be reported to The Pensions Regulator (TPR). Please see Correcting an unpaid schedule for more information on avoiding late payments.
To ensure you’re following your legal duties you’ll need to choose a deadline. This date will help you identify your contribution schedules when your scheme has been set up.
|
Frequency |
Choosing the right deadline |
|---|---|
|
Monthly |
If you’re paying workers every month, NEST will only let you select a deadline of up to the 22nd day of the month after the month in which the worker was paid. This means your deadline will always comply with the law. |
| Weekly |
The NEST system calculates deadlines from the end of a worker’s pay period, not their pay date. So in some circumstances a payday will fall in an earlier calendar month than the earnings period end date, meaning you could mistakenly set a payment deadline that is up to a month too late. If you pay your workers on the last day of the pay period NEST won’t let you choose an illegal deadline using either of the two options. If you pay your workers on any other date in the pay period it’s best to choose our default setting of 16 days after the pay period ends. This will make sure your deadline is always legally compliant. If you choose a number of days that’s less than 16 days you’ll always be compliant with the law. If you choose a higher number of days or a specific date in the month after the pay period ends your deadline may never be legally compliant or it might only be compliant from time to time. |
| Fortnightly |
The NEST system calculates deadlines from the end of a worker’s pay period, not their pay date. So in some circumstances a payday will fall in an earlier calendar month than the earnings period end date, meaning you could mistakenly set a payment deadline that is up to a month too late. If you pay your workers on the last day of the pay period NEST won’t let you choose an illegal deadline using either of the two options. If you pay your workers on any other date in the pay period it’s best to choose our default setting of 9 days after the pay period ends. This will make sure your deadline is always legally compliant. If you choose a number of days that’s less than 9 days you’ll always be compliant with the law. If you choose a higher number of days or a specific date in the month after the pay period ends your deadline may never be legally compliant or it might only be compliant from time to time. |
| Four-weekly |
The NEST system calculates deadlines from the end of a worker’s pay period, not their pay date. So in some circumstances a payday will fall in an earlier calendar month than the earnings period end date, meaning you could mistakenly set a payment deadline that is up to a month too late. If you pay your workers on the last day of the pay period NEST won’t let you choose an illegal deadline using either of the two options. If you pay your workers on any other date in the pay period there’s no easy solution that will guarantee that the deadline you select in NEST will be legally compliant. Every pay period you’ll need to assume this deadline is not compliant and check that the payment clears in our account by the 22nd of the month after the month in which the worker was paid. |
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