Monitoring pension contributions Q & A’s

This depends on the frequency of payroll deductions and the submissions of contributions files. If we receive your contributions file monthly, we send you monthly contributions monitoring reports, and if you send us weekly contributions files, your contributions monitoring reports are weekly too.

If you are going to change how often you submit a contributions file, please email service.delivery@fil.com to let us know.

We send your report shortly after we receive your contributions file.

• The expected contributions that we show in the report are based on the information we have on record for your plan on either the investment date or the end date for the payroll period covered by your contributions file, whichever is earlier.
• The actual contributions shown in your report are taken from the first contributions file we receive for the payroll period.

If the time between the end date for one payroll period and the start date of the next one is seven days or more, we mention it as a ‘missed payroll period’ in the summary of your contributions monitoring report.

Contributions included in any subsequent reports submitted in the same payroll period are not monitored. For example, if you submit a file showing new joiners after your main file, these are not monitored for the report. Assuming you include these members in the main file for the following payroll period, we will then monitor them.

The tolerance limit is the amount or percentage by which an actual contribution can differ from the amount we expected without being highlighted in the contributions monitoring report. You can see the tolerance percentage in the summary section on the report. Please note that the tolerance is applied as a percentage of expected rate. For example on a tolerance limit of 10%, an expected contribution rate of 5% means that any actual contribution between 4.95% and 5.05% is considered as good order. A contribution is only included in the report if it falls outside the tolerance limit.

Depending on your scheme, your contributions monitoring report may have up to three sections:

• Records with discrepancies lists members where the difference between expected and actual contributions falls outside the tolerance limit for your scheme. This part of the report shows basic information for each member, such as surname, National Insurance number, staff number and pensionable salary. The details of their contributions are set out in the following columns:
  
  
  The expected contribution rates and amounts are based on the latest information in Fidelity’s records.

• Contributions not received lists active members for whom we did not receive contributions in the payroll period covered by the report. 

• Members excluded from monitoring lists members who are not covered by the report. The comments show the reason for each exclusion. The most likely reasons are that a member is excluded from investment (perhaps because they have only just joined the plan or have opted out or left), or some of their data is either missing or being checked.

  Members who are subject to the tapered annual allowance or the money purchase annual allowance may be listed in this section, if they have bespoke contributions that cannot be monitored.

  If the reason given for an exclusion is scheme-level configuration, you do not need to take any action, as Fidelity will be working on the issue.

Please review any members shown in sections 1 and 2 of your report. There will have been discrepancies between these members’ expected and actual contributions. You should check whether their contributions were correct, or if you need to update the records we have for them.

For members where we have flagged missing contributions (i.e. under Section 2), you should arrange to pay these as soon as possible, or update any changes to their status via PlanViewer in the usual way if applicable.

If the information relates to the member’s regular salary or the rate or category of their contributions, please use the usual file and data submission process to give us their up-to-date details. You can also use the data maintenance section of PlanViewer.

If a member has appeared in the contributions monitoring report because they are on maternity, paternity or any other type of long-term leave, please email us at service.delivery@fil.com with details. You can ignore entries for these members in subsequent reports, but please ensure you update their details as necessary when they return to work – for example, if their salary changes.