Smart Pension integration

If you use Smart Pension as your pension provider, you can integrate your processes using a direct API. To learn more, see Smart Pension’s website.

Get the most out of UK Payroll

Connecting to Smart Pension means a lot less pension admin.

• UK Payroll automatically reports new hires enrolled into your pension scheme to Smart Pension.
• Smart Pension sends new hires a welcome pack with details of the scheme and instructions on opting-out, should employees wish.
• UK Payroll automatically reports employees who have opted-out of your pension scheme to Smart Pension.

  Note: If an employee opts-out after payroll is confirmed, it will not be updated in UK Payroll and must be added manually in the next payroll cycle. UK Payroll won’t automatically refund contributions once an employee has opted-out within the opt-out window. For more information, see Apply a pension refund.

• UK Payroll automatically reports leavers to Smart Pension.
• UK Payroll uploads the contribution file to Smart Pension on payday. If there are any errors in the file, UK Payroll will contact you and ensure the revised file is uploaded by the 5th of the month.

Before you begin

Make sure your pension scheme is set up in UK Payroll before connecting Smart Pension. To learn more, see Set up a pension scheme.

UK Payroll’s Employee ID is equivalent to the Smart Pension’s External ID. Therefore, it’s important to ensure all employee External IDs match their Employee IDs.

Note: The standard employee and employer contribution rates are determined by the Group settings defined in Smart Pension. Once Smart Pension and UK Payroll are integrated, allocate the correct group to each employee on the employee’s profile. To learn more, see Enroll staff into a pension scheme.

How to connect to Smart Pension

1. From the left side bar, navigate to Settings > Company > Pensions.
2. Click Set up pension.
3. Select Smart Pension.
4. Enter your Pension account id.
5. Enter your company’s standard pension settings, including how to calculate the pension (Calculate on qualified earnings) and the pension type (Net pay arrangement or Salary sacrifice).

   Note: Select Calculate on qualified earnings if you calculate pension contributions on earnings above the lower earnings limit but below the upper earnings limit. For more information, see The Pensions Regulator’s Automatic enrolment earnings threshold.

6. Click Save changes.
7. Using the pop-up, log into your Smart Pension Pension account. Once you’ve successfully logged in, UK Payroll and Smart Pension are fully connected.

FAQs

Can I amend an employee’s pension start date?
Please contact Support and give them the employee’s name and their correct start date.

Does UK Payroll make payments to Smart Pension on our behalf?
No, UK Payroll doesn’t make any direct payments to pension providers. For more information, see Smart Pension’s How we take your contributions.

Why are the figures on the Smart Pension portal different to the pension report?
Smart Pension delays some payments for new hires who are within their opt-out window. If the new hires are still in the scheme after their opt-out period has ended, Smart Pension will take payment on the next direct debit trigger. For more information, see Smart Pension’s How we take your contributions.

If the difference is not related to any new hires, contact Support.

I’m trying to enroll an employee but it has failed.
Check that the key employee details are correct (employee ID, email address, and address are complete; address lines 1 and 2 don’t exceed 35 characters; no special characters are used in names or addresses).

If these details are correct, log into your Smart Pension portal to check if the employee is already enrolled or active. If they are, contact Support to reset the pension record. Once reset, enroll the employee using the Already enrolled in provider option. For more detailed instructions, see Enroll staff into a pension scheme.