2. 02 03
What’s inside? Thank you for considering NEST
This guide sets out: NEST is a workplace pension scheme that will be available
to all employers to meet their new legal duties. It’s easy to
01 How to get started
use and designed to meet the needs of you and your workers.
Contact us to get started with NEST
Plan your timeline This guide will help you get started with NEST. When you
go online to sign up to NEST at www.nestpensions.org.uk
02 How to sign up you’ll be given detailed guidance on each of the steps to
Sign up online
setting up your account.
Set up a payment schedule
NEST’s main features
Choose who you want to manage your account
It’s easy to use with: It’s designed for workers with:
03 How to set up your workers online set up and administration an investment approach designed
Use the Employer toolkit clear communications specifically for our members, using
high-quality fund managers
Enrol your workers no ongoing administration when a
member leaves your employment a commitment to helping your
workers with their options when
04 How to make payments low member charges they come to take their money
Prepare your first contribution schedule out of NEST.
flexibility on the way you calculate
Make your first payment contributions within our total
annual limit of £4,200* a year
for each member.
Benefits of choosing NEST now
We give you:
help to understand what action flexibility over the date you start
you need to take to comply with using NEST
your employer duties the option to enrol workers in
dedicated support from our stages and avoid doing so in
Market Engagement Team one go, which you will have to
assistance as you set up your do when employer duties start.
account and enrol your workers This level of support may not be
administrative support to available after October 2012, when
integrate NEST with your HR we expect an increase in volumes of
We use the term NEST to refer to the scheme’s legal name, the National Employment
or payroll system employers signing up to use NEST.
Savings Trust. We sometimes also use it to refer to the scheme’s trustee, the National
Employment Savings Trust Corporation.
* This is the annual contribution limit for the 2011/12 tax year. This figure will be adjusted
in line with average earnings.
3. 04 01 02 05
How to get started How to sign up
Contact us to get started Plan your timeline Sign up online Set up a payment schedule Choose who you want to
with NEST manage your account
If you want to get started soon you The first step is to sign up online. Your payment schedule sets out the
NEST is open for business. Before need to agree with us the month Once we have activated your account contributions you and your workers You can give other people access
you begin the sign-up process you’ll start using NEST. you can enter some details about have committed to pay and the date to your account if, for example, you
contact us on 030 0303 1949 your organisation. You will need to you will pay these to NEST. would like someone else to deal with
We have put together a template tell us: NEST on your behalf. This is known
or email employer.enquiries @ project plan you can use to help The way you set your payment
nestpensions.org.uk to discuss as delegating access to your account.
you plan the steps you need to take the legal name of your organisation schedule is flexible allowing you to:
the best time to start using NEST. to get started. You could delegate access to
your organisation’s business address set up a single group of workers
We can only take a limited number someone from within your
It includes the steps covered in and PAYE reference that will be given the same level
of employers before your new legal organisation, such as a colleague
this brochure and the other tasks the number of workers you employ of contributions
duties that start to be introduced in HR or payroll, or from outside
you may need to carry out. split workers into more than one your organisation, such as your
from 2012. contact details of a main contact
Contact us on 030 0303 1949 or and any additional contacts group, allowing you to provide accountant, financial adviser or
To help you decide if NEST is the employer.enquiries@nestpensions. different contributions for different payroll provider.
right choice for you now, we will your organisation’s bank details groups or grades of workers
org.uk to request a copy. You can give different people
be happy to explain: including account name, number
and sort code. use NEST to meet the minimum different levels of access to your
the features of NEST legal requirements that start to be account.
You will also need to confirm that introduced from 2012, or use it to
what it means for you and
you accept the Employer Terms pay in more than the minimum
your workers Delegate would have the ability
and Conditions. If you want to go
the advantages of using through these in advance they are choose to pay your contributions to carry out all tasks on your
NEST now. available on the employer section weekly, four weekly or monthly. behalf and view all records.
of our website. You can make changes to your
payment schedule easily. someone the ability to read
Contributions must be above the your account’s records but not
legal minimum required and below change them. This role is known
the maximum NEST allows. as a Read-only Delegate.
You can decide to delegate access
to your account to one or more
people either as you set up your
account, or later when your
account is up and running.
4. 06 03 04 07
How to set up your workers How to make payments
Use the Employer toolkit The toolkit includes: There are three ways to enrol Preparing your first Make your first
Before your workers can join NEST, an easy-to-understand overview your workers. We give you specific contribution schedule payment
you will need to give them some of NEST guidance on each of the options Processing contributions is likely to be After submitting your contribution
information about the scheme. available when you set up your the task you perform most regularly. schedule, you can either:
a form to show your workers what account. The choices are:
We provide an Employer toolkit to your contribution is and what they Our systems have been designed to
make it easy for you to give your will contribute Option one make this process straightforward.
workers this information. an acceptance form for each worker You need to prepare your contribution pay using Direct Debit, which
you enrol to confirm they accept schedule detailing all the actual allows us to collect contributions
your contribution and authorise contributions made in each pay automatically
their own contributions to be paid You can enter your workers’ details period – this period could be weekly,
out of their earnings. manually online. four weekly or monthly.
credit
debit
How long it takes to communicate Option two You should include an entry for each
with your workers and reach member you have enrolled with: pay by Direct Credit or debit card,
agreement will depend on your the name of the worker, their which means you will need to
organisation. You should bear this National Insurance number or process payments manually online.
in mind when building your plan. You can upload a spreadsheet file a unique employee reference Cleared funds must be with NEST by
Enrol your workers with the relevant information using number if they have one the 19th of the month following the
our template. the worker’s earnings in the payroll deductions.
To enrol workers into NEST, you need
to give us information about them Option three pay period
including: the amount of contributions
personal details for each worker both you as the employer and
including their name, address, date the worker themselves pay
of birth, National Insurance number You can download data from your into their retirement pot.
and email address if you have it payroll system and provide this to You can submit your contribution
details of any workers who are NEST through a secure file transfer. schedule by entering it manually,
not eligible to receive tax relief uploading a file or through a secure
on their contributions file transfer. We will work with you
to make sure your file is in the right
confirmation that each worker
format and will upload successfully.
knows they are being enrolled
into NEST
the worker group each individual
belongs to if you have more than
one group of workers, for example
with different contribution levels
the date each worker will be
enrolled.