Auto Enrolment
To help people save more for their retirement, the Government requires employers to enrol their workers, and re-enrol them every 3 years into a workplace pension scheme. This applies to those who aren’t already in one and who:
The Government’s aim is for more people to have another income, on top of the State Pension, when they come to retire. The State Pension is intended to be a foundation only - you may need more. Employers are required to enrol their workers automatically into a pension scheme to make it easier for people to start saving for their retirement.
The University can choose to postpone your automatic enrolment for up to three months. This means that, for example, if you were paid £840.00 in April, you are eligible for automatic enrolment into NEST but your automatic enrolment may be postponed until the following July. If you are paid at least £833.33 in the July, you will be automatically enrolled into NEST. If your pay in that July is less than £833.33 then automatic enrolment will not apply. You would be enrolled into the scheme when your earnings reached the required level for the first time in the following months.
The payments into your pension will be a total of 8% of your monthly pay. For example,
The Pensions Office and NEST will write to you to confirm if you have been enrolled into the NEST Pension Scheme. You have the option of opting out or stopping your contributions to NEST. Please contact the Pensions office to find out how to do this: [email protected]
Further information regarding the NEST Pension Scheme can be found by visiting the NEST website .
From 1/1/2019, the University of Southampton enrols its employees on grades 1-3 into the University of Southampton Retirement Fund (USRF) at commencement of employment, or at the time they first meet the eligibility criteria for membership. This contractual enrolment into USRF is part of the terms and conditions of employment and applies to those who:
Please be advised that:
The current contribution rates for USRF are detailed in the table below, with a 6% default employee contribution.
| Employee | Employer |
|---|---|
| 0% | 10% |
| 2% | 10% |
| 4% | 10% |
|
6%
(default contribution rate) |
10% |
Further information about the USRF can be found on the
Royal London
website.
If your grade 1-3 contract is for a period of less than 6 months, you will be enrolled into the NEST Pension Scheme.
The University of Southampton enrols its employees on grade 4 and above into the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) at commencement of employment, or at the time they first meet the eligibility criteria for membership. This contractual enrolment into USS is part of the terms and conditions of employment and applies to those who:
Please be advised that:
The payments into your pension will be a total of 20.6% of your monthly pensionable pay. For example: