Why is my contribution schedule showing as overdue?

If you have an overdue schedule, this article will help you work out why and tell you what you need to do. Here are some of the common reasons why a contribution schedule might be overdue and how to clear it:

1. The payment has not been submitted or it has been rejected.

You’ll need to click on ‘Submit schedule’ to authorise a payment after you’ve updated the contributions or provide a valid reason for making zero contributions, for all employees in a contribution schedule.

If a payment is rejected, we’ll send a message to your Nest secure mailbox with the rejection details and if the payment will be attempted again. If the Direct Debit is cancelled, you’ll need to update the bank details in the payment source to submit the payment again. Please see How can I change the bank details for my payment source? for more information. Once this is done, you then need to wait 11 working days for it to take effect, then re-submit your schedule. During this period, you may be sent a late payment notification. 

2. Your payment may not have cleared by the payment due date.

It can take up to five working days for the payment to be processed to your employees’ accounts. Make sure you know when your payment due date is and ensure you submit the contributions at least five working days before that due date. To learn more about payment due dates please see What is a payment due date?

If your current payment due date doesn’t allow you enough time to pay contributions, you can change it. Remember, UK pension regulations state that the latest you can set your payment due date is the 22nd of the month following pay day.

To do this, you’ll need to create a new group and move employees to the new group. To create a new group, please see How do I add a new group once I’ve set up with NEST? To move employees to the new group, please see How do I change a worker’s group from Manage workers?

3. Some information is missing from the contribution schedule.

If any employees are showing as Action needed-not yet validated on the contribution schedule that means you have either not provided us with contribution details for the employee or you have not told us there is nothing to pay for them. You’ll need to enter the contributions or select a valid reason for making a zero contribution.

Once this is done, the employee’s status will appear as Validated. You’ll then need to click ‘Submit schedule’.

If the employee did not earn enough to pay contributions, you can submit zero contributions by selecting the reason ‘Member has insufficient earnings’. To do this, please see How do I tell Nest there are no contributions to pay for a worker this pay period?

4. Incorrect contributions have been updated for some employees in the contribution schedule.

Check the contribution schedule for employees with status as Action needed-invalid. These records will be at the top of the on-screen contribution schedule.

If the message Action needed – invalid is displayed click ‘View’ in the Error column and the reason for the error will be displayed.

Once the error(s) have been corrected the contribution schedule should be submitted, by clicking on the ‘Submit Schedule’ button.

5. One of your employees have asked to stop contributions or have left employment in the past and you have not informed us yet.

If an employee has asked you to stop contributions or doesn’t work for you anymore, you’ll need to mark them as ‘No further contributions payable’ through the contribution schedule. To do this, please see How do I let you know a member has left employment?

6. An employee was enrolled with a start date from a previous pay period.

If an employee was newly enrolled with a start date from a previous pay period that you had already paid, this can make those contribution schedules to show as unpaid. This is because those previously submitted contribution schedules may now show contributions due for the new employees.

You’ll need to check if contributions are to be paid for employees in these schedule(s). If the employees are not eligible to pay contributions in the period covered by these opened up schedules you can submit a zero contribution by selecting the reason as ‘Member has insufficient earnings’. To do this, please see: How do I tell Nest there are no contributions to pay for a worker this pay period?

7. You are withholding contributions for an employee in their opt out period.

UK pension rules allow you to withhold contributions for employees in their opt-out period. This means you only pay their contributions over to Nest once your employee has been in the pension scheme for more than a month.

Once the contribution schedule the employee is on goes past its payment due date it will show as Overdue.

Don’t worry, the schedule is not actually overdue, and you won’t receive a late payment notification, provided you pay the contributions for the employee you are withholding for no later than the end of the second month after they joined the pension scheme.