Stakeholder Pension Guidelines for the MR Industry

The BMRA has now provided members with new guidance on Stakeholder pensions for the market research industry. This outline replaces that released in their October 2000 Bulletin and the various updates posted since then on the website.

As many of us are already aware, stakeholder pensions were first introduced in April of this year as a result of the Welfare Reform and Pensions Act 1999. Behind this move is the fact that as the UK population is generally living longer in retirement, there has been a significant increase over recent years in the number of people who are receiving state benefits. In consequence, the government wants more people to make adequate pension provision of their own

Under the scheme, all employers must now offer their staff access to at least one designated Stakeholder scheme by 8th October 2001. The only exemptions to the new rules are those companies with less than 5 employees in total, those employees earning less than the lower earnings limit for National Insurance contributions purposes (currently £3,484 pa), and companies where there is an existing occupational pension scheme or group personal pension plan which satisfies certain criteria.

For the market research industry, it should be noted, unless they are employed under an employment contract, interviewers are considered to be "workers" rather than employees. As such they do not have to be included in provisions for Stakeholder pensions. However, agencies may or may not wish to consider offering interviewers an opportunity to be involved in the agency's Stakeholder pension scheme, if one is in operation.

The BMRA has summarised the main points about Stakeholder pensions as:

• Employees and any representative organisations must be consulted before final decisions are made about the scheme.
  
• Information about the scheme must be provided to all qualifying staff, including new staff, within 3 months of joining.
  
• The scheme representatives must be allowed access to staff so that they can provide information about the scheme.
  
• Employers must offer to deduct any members' personal contributions from salary, make prompt payment to the Stakeholder provider and ensure that accurate records are maintained.
  
• Employer contributions are not compulsory.
  
• At least 3% of employees' basic earnings must be contributed into the plan and the contribution rate must be included in employee contracts for those joining on or after 8th October 2001.
  
• The scheme must not make charges or impose penalties for stopping contributions or leaving service.

All articles 2006-22 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas unless otherwise stated.