What payment due date should I choose?

UK pension regulations require that contributions are paid to the pension scheme no later than the 22nd of the month after the month in which they were deducted from pay. There is an exception for new members who are still in their opt-out window, their first contributions can be held by the employer until no later than the end of the second month after the member started in the scheme.

When setting up, you will be asked to choose a Payment due date for regular contributions. You may set it earlier than the 22nd of the following month payment is deducted if you wish, however, ensure there’s enough time for you to submit details of the contributions to us  and for the payment to reach us.

It takes five working days for the payment to be received and applied to employees’ accounts, so therefore you need to complete the payment process 5 working days before the due date you set.

You will need to set up a payment due date for each Nest group, and there are two ways to do this depending on your preference.

A number of days after the end of the current earnings period:

The latest date you can choose for your payment due date is 22 calendar days after the earnings period ends. For example, if your earnings period ends on the 31st March, choosing the maximum number of days with this option would mean that your payment due date would be the 22nd of April.

If you want to choose a particular day:

You can pick any date between the end of the pay period and the 22nd of the following month. For example, if your earnings period ends on the 31st of March, the latest payment due date you could choose with this option would be the 22nd of April.