News

03/02/2010 - Personal Accounts - NEST

PADA is responsible for designing and introducing the infrastructure for NEST (National Employment Savings Trust), the new name for the personal accounts scheme. NEST will be handed over to and run by a new trustee corporation called NEST Corporation.

NEST is being created to provide a low-cost, independent, workplace pension scheme that any employer can use. It aims to provide access to workplace pension saving to millions of people – typically those on low to middle incomes.

Employers will be able to choose to use NEST or another qualifying workplace pension.  The final rules governing auto-enrolment into the workplace pension schemes from 2012 have recently been laid before Parliament.

The DWP said the regulations have increased flexibility and removed some of the burdens that were identified without compromising the intentions or undermining protection for individuals, such as:

• Start up businesses created from 2012 will be given until 2016 to start enrolling staff.


• Businesses employing 120,000 staff start enrolling in October 2012 with smaller businesses phased in over the next three years.


• Phasing in employer contributions from 1% in 2012 to 2% in October 2016 and to the full 3% by 2017.

The regulations reflect small changes to implementation announced in December-designed to help small and start-up businesses through the recession. Auto-enrolment will begin as planned in October 2012 and will be fully phased in by October 2017.

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