How do I add pension company details to my pension letters?
Contents
Summary
This article explains how to add your pension company details into the auto-enrolment pension letters that are produced at the end of a payroll period.
More Information
When you first start using the pension system you will need to amend the standard template letters to suit your company and pension scheme.
 | If your pension provider will be issuing letters for you, please see this section. |
When the scheme is running, you will need to edit these letters when certain circumstances change:
- 'When the current earnings threshold changes'.
- 'When the Employee's and Employer's percentage contributions increase as per Government guidelines'.
- 'When any contact details change'.
Configuration
You will need to have the following information to hand to enable you to edit the letters:
- 'Pension Contact/Signatory'
- 'Pension Provider'
- 'Pension Contact Email Address'
- 'Pension Contact Telephone Number'
- 'Pension Provider Contact Email Address '
- 'Pension Provider Contact Telephone Number'
- 'Employee Max Percentage Contribution'
- 'Employer Max Percentage Contribution'
- 'Lower Earnings Threshold' - Annual Lower level of Qualifying Earnings
- 'Earnings Threshold' - Annual Earnings trigger for Automatic Enrolment
To check the current earnings threshold click here.
Copy reports to enable Editing
Go to " Payroll Maintenance Options Payroll Settings Report Details Configurable Reports".
The Payroll contains 8 letters. Each of these should be edited in case they are needed. The letters are :
- 'pAE' - 'Eligible Jobholder Info'
- 'pAJ' - 'Non-eligible Jobholder Info'
- 'pAW' - 'Entitled Worker Info'
- 'pAQ' - 'Already Qualifying Info'
- 'pPA' - 'Postponement General Info A'
- 'pPB' - 'Postponement General Info B'
- 'pPJ' - 'Postponement Jobholder Info'
- 'pPW' - 'Postponement Entitled Info'
- Click on the first pension letter, i.e. 'Eligible Jobholder Info'.
- Press <Ctrl+F1>.
- Type 'INFO' then press <Enter>.
- Click once on 'pAE' - 'Eligible Jobholder Info' so it is highlighted in the list.
- Press <Alt+F8>.
- In the "Report Code" Field, type in the report code you are copying, in this case 'pAE', but enter this all in upper case letters, i.e. 'PAE'.
- Press <Enter> then <Enter> again.
- The report will now be copied and you will be returned to the [Configurable Reports] screen.
 | Repeat these steps to copy each of the reports listed, i.e. move down to 'pAJ' - 'Non-eligible Jobholder Info' and copy this report giving it the code 'PAJ'. Repeat until all 8 reports have been copied and replaced with capital letter codes. |
Enter required details
- Click on the 'Eligible Jobholder Info'"Report Code" field, which should now read 'PAE'.
- Press <Shift+F10>.
- This will take you to a "Definable Literals" page in which you can enter the required pension details. Each D numbered field has an explanation for what that field is for in the "Details" line.
- On each line delete the text shown and enter the required details. There is a maximum of 30 characters per field.
- To check the current earnings threshold, click [here].
- Press <Esc> then <Esc> again and click [Accept] to save the details.
Repeat these steps on the other 7 pension reports, i.e. move down to 'PAJ' and repeat the steps listed above.
Edit the Letter Content
Some of the letters contain additional text which will need editing to ensure it matches your pension scheme. See this article for further instructions.
Future Changes
To make changes at a later date, e.g. when the Government increases the Earnings thresholds, the Percentage Contributions increase or your Pensions Contact details need to be altered, follow the steps in this section to edit each report.
 | Percentage Contributions will not be altered automatically. Each company has a different staging date and dates when increases will happen. You will be responsible for entering this change in the Pension Scheme Parameters and in your letters. |
| Earnings Threshold changes are included in the Payroll Year End update but they will not update your letters. Please continue to amend your letters manually when this change occurs to ensure the correct information is printed. |
Letters by Pension Provider
If your pension provider will be issuing letters for all employees as and when they are required, you need to remove the link to the letter files from the Configurable Reports section. If not, Platinum will try to print letters for your employees as and when it deems necessary.
Go to " Payroll Maintenance Options Payroll Settings Report Details Configurable Reports".
- Click on the "Report" column and delete the three character code displayed against each of the 8 letters, starting at the 'Eligible Jobholder Info' prompt.
- Press <Esc> when you have removed all 8 codes.
See also
- How do I prepare for automatic enrolment?
- How do I set up a pension scheme in Platinum Payroll?
- How do I edit my auto enrolment letters?
- How do I run a payroll period?
