{"id":25997,"date":"2015-02-05T14:10:37","date_gmt":"2015-02-05T14:10:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wingatebs.com\/llp-partners-auto-enrolment\/"},"modified":"2015-02-05T14:10:37","modified_gmt":"2015-02-05T14:10:37","slug":"llp-partners-auto-enrolment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wingatebs.com\/llp-partners-auto-enrolment\/","title":{"rendered":"LLP Partners &#038; Auto Enrolment"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It was made quite clear that self-employed individuals were not deemed to be \u2018Workers\u2019 for auto enrolment purposes under the Pensions Act 2008, but on 22<sup>nd<\/sup> May 2014, the Supreme Court ruled that a partner of an LLP is a \u2018Worker\u2019 under the Employment Rights Act 1996 (the ERA).<\/p>\n<p>Whilst that particular ruling concerned the definition of a \u2018Worker\u2019 under the ERA, the definition is very similar to that of a \u2018Worker\u2019 in the Pensions Act 2008.\u00a0 On this basis it could be argued that an LLP Partner\u00a0is a \u2018Worker\u2019 for Automatic Enrolment purposes.<\/p>\n<p>As such we strongly recommend LLP\u2019s obtain legal advice and certainly carry out an assessment against the definition of \u2018Worker\u2019 in the Pensions Act 2008, taking account of the factors highlighted in the judgement by the Supreme Court, which are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Integration within the organisation<\/li>\n<li>Dependence\/subordination<\/li>\n<li>Exclusivity \u2013 could the individual provide services to anyone else?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If an LLP determines that a partner is a \u2018Worker\u2019, the employer\u2019s auto enrolment duties would apply in the same way as for any other \u2018Worker\u2019. \u00a0This includes assessing whether any \u2018Qualifying Earnings\u2019 (QE\u2019s) are payable, referencing the LLP\u2019s remuneration arrangement and the types of payments that count as QE\u2019s under the Pensions Act 2008, and if applicable auto enrol the partner into a Qualifying Workplace Pension Scheme.<\/p>\n<p>In practice it is unlikely an LLP Equity Partner would have any QE\u2019s and if this is the case there would be no requirement to auto enrol them but, even if this is the case if the Partner is deemed to be a \u2018Worker\u2019 they should be formally offered the opportunity to join the firm\u2019s Workplace Pension Scheme. Members who are remunerated via a fixed profit share, which is guaranteed and not repayable if there is a shortfall in overall profits however may have \u2018QE\u2019s\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>This ruling applies retrospectively, so if an LLP has passed it Staging Date, the firm will need to take the necessary steps to ensure compliance with the Pension Act 2008 Workplace Pension Reform requirements in relation to any Partners deemed \u2018Workers\u2019, unless the Partner was already an active member of a qualifying scheme at that time.<\/p>\n<p>Where an LLP has already completed its declaration of compliance (registration), there is no need to amend the figures already submitted. An LLP which has not yet completed its declaration should asses and include any Partners who have been deemed to be \u2018Workers\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>All statements concerning the tax treatment of products and their benefits are based on our understanding of current tax law and HM Revenue and Customs\u2019 practice. Levels and bases of tax relief are subject to change. This is information is not provided as advice or a recommendation.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It was made quite clear that self-employed individuals were not deemed to be \u2018Workers\u2019 for auto enrolment purposes under the Pensions Act 2008, but on 22nd May 2014, the Supreme Court ruled that a partner of an LLP is a \u2018Worker\u2019 under the Employment Rights Act 1996 (the ERA). Whilst that particular ruling concerned the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[41],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wingatebs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25997"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wingatebs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wingatebs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wingatebs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wingatebs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wingatebs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25997\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wingatebs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wingatebs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wingatebs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}