Pension contributions in Covid-19 support measures

With the changes in many people’s earnings, this is what we know so far with regards to your pension.

In addition to the £2,500 per month wages for each furloughed employee, the grant will also pay the employer’s National Insurance contributions and minimum auto enrolment contributions on the wage that is being granted. If the employer is paying more than the minimum or continue to pay their employees at their full income then no extra can be claimed.

We are led to believe that the auto enrolment contributions can only be claimed for those employees that are currently members of the employer’s auto enrolment scheme or qualifying workplace pension scheme. If the member has opted out then any contributions the employer pays is not covered by the scheme.

For many, the downturn in business or a loss of a job may mean that pension contributions already paid personally in 2019/20 exceed their relevant UK earnings. As it is only one month where earnings have been impacted, we don’t expect this to be a large number of clients. However, should large personal contributions have already been paid that will now exceed their available tax relief, these can be refunded after the end of the tax year. This doesn’t mean that contributions in excess of the annual allowance or tapered annual allowance can be refunded, only those in excess of relevant UK earnings, which are therefore not entitled to tax relief.

For employer pension contributions, there is no test against relevant UK earnings so pension contributions already paid will still be valid.