Pension wise is a free and impartial government service that helps you understand the options for your pension pot.
Pension Wise can help if you:
What is a Pension Wise appointment?
How to book an appointment?
Sometimes it is difficult to know how to account for transaction invoices that have been issued and not paid by the end of the financial year, either to your organisation or from your suppliers.
Your accounts are not based on the money that was actually paid or received in the financial year, they are based on what should have been paid or received.
The following definitions may help you as you prepare your accounts for the Independent Examiner.
Debtors – A debtor is one party who owes money to another – for example, clients or customers who have not yet paid in full for any goods or services that your organisation has already supplied to them, are debtors to your organisation.
If this debt occurs before the end of one financial year, but is then paid in the next financial year, it should be included in first financial year’s accounts and recorded as a debt.
Creditors – A creditor is one party who is owed money by another – for example, suppliers who have provided your organisation with any goods or services that have not yet been paid for in full are creditors of your organisation.
Prepayments – A prepayment is when you pay an invoice or make a payment for more than one period in advance. For example, you may pay for your rent for three months in advance but want to show this as a monthly expense on your profit and loss. Prepayments are a type of debtor.
Accruals – An accrual is when you pay for something in arrears. For example, you may receive an invoice for your electricity at the end of a quarter but want to record the payments before this. An accrual is usually based on an estimate. Therefore, when the invoice is received, you may need to make an adjustment to the final amount. An accrual is a type of creditor, money that you owe.
We were recently asked to clarify the issue of accepting or giving coins as payment for transactions in cash So, what are the legal tender amounts acceptable for the United Kingdom coins?Legal tender has a very narrow and technical meaning in the settlement of debts. It means that a debtor cannot successfully be sued for non-payment if he pays into court in legal tender. It does not mean that any ordinary transaction has to take place in legal tender or only within the amount denominated by the legislation.
Both parties to a transaction are free to agree to accept any form of payment whether legal tender or otherwise according to their wishes.
In order to comply with the very strict rules governing an actual legal tender transaction it is necessary, for example, to offer the exact amount due because no change can be demanded.
Coins are legal tender throughout the United Kingdom for the following amount:
£2 – for any amount
£1 – for any amount
50p – for any amount not exceeding £10
20p – for any amount not exceeding £10
10p – for any amount not exceeding £5
5p – for any amount not exceeding £5
2p – for any amount not exceeding 20p
1p – for any amount not exceeding 20p
The merger of charities means two or more separate charities coming together to form one organisation. In such cases, either a new charity is formed to carry on the work or take on the assets of the original charities or one charity assumes control of another.
Before you start, decide whether merging is in your charity’s interests. It could be less risky and more efficient to work with another charity more informally. You should read the Charity Commission’s guidance on collaborative working, making mergers succeed and its mergers checklist.
When thinking about a merger, you must make sure that:
Tips for successful mergers
Re-enrolment
Every three years you must put certain staff back into a pension scheme.
This is called ‘re-enrolment’
Your re-enrolment duties must be carried out approximately three years after your automatic enrolment staging date. Your duties will vary depending on whether you identify that you have staff to re-enrol, or whether you have no staff to re-enrol. Either way, you will need to complete a re-declaration of compliance to tell the Pensions Regulator how you have met your duties.
Remember, re-enrolment and re-declaration is your legal duty and if you don’t act you could be fined.
There are 3 stages for you to follow:
A reminder to you all that the changes to the National Living Wage and National Minimum wage take effect from April 2019.
The hourly rate for the minimum wage depends the employee’s age and whether they are an apprentice.
The rates are as follows:
| Year | 25 and over | 21 to 24 | 18 to 20 | Under 18 | Apprentice |
| April 2018 (current rate) | £7.83 | £7.38 | £5.90 | £4.20 | £3.70 |
| April 2019 | £8.21 | £7.70 | £6.15 | £4.35 | £3.90 |
Employers use an employee’s National Insurance Category Letter when they run payroll to work out how much they both need to contribute.
Most employees have category letter A. Employees can find their category letter on their payslip.
| Category letter | Employee group |
|---|---|
| A | All employees apart from those in groups B, C, J, H, M and Z in this table |
| B | Married women and widows entitled to pay reduced National Insurance |
| C | Employees over the State Pension Age |
| J | Employees who can defer National Insurance because they’re already paying it in another job |
| H | Apprentice under 25 |
| M | Employees under 21 |
| Z | Employees under 21 who can defer National Insurance because they’re already paying it in another job |
Employers use category letter X for employees who don’t have to pay National Insurance, for example because they’re under 16.
What happens to your pension if you change jobs?
Your workplace pension still belongs to you. If you do not carry on paying into the scheme, the money will remain invested and you’ll get a pension when you reach the scheme’s pension age.
You can join another workplace scheme if you get a new job.
If you do, you may be able to:
Ask your pension providers about your options.
You can get free, impartial information about transferring your pension from:
You can also get impartial advice about workplace pensions from an independent financial adviser. You’ll usually have to pay for the advice.
As an employer running payroll, you need to:
| What you need to do | When |
| Send your final payroll report of the year | On or before your employees’ payday |
| Update employee payroll records | From 6 April |
| Update payroll software | From 6 April (or earlier if the software provider asks you to) |
| Give your employees a P60 | By 31 May |
| Report employee expenses and benefits | By 6 July |
Paid leaveDuring paid leave, you and your employee carry on making pension contributions.
You and your employee will continue to make pension contributions if they are getting paid during maternity leave.
If they are not getting paid, you as the employer will still have to make pension contributions in the first 26 weeks of their leave (‘Ordinary Maternity Leave’). You have to carry on making contributions afterwards if it’s in their contract. Check your workplace maternity policy.
More details can be found here
If you need any further help, please contact us here