How to fix submit pension contribution errors - Nest Pensions

This error can be caused by your NEST credentials being entered incorrectly, or if a change was made to your NEST login email address.

Your NEST credentials are the login details for the NEST website portal.
To check your credentials, login to the NEST website (opens in a new tab).

If you can't log into the NEST website, speak to NEST to find out why the login is not working.

If you can log into the NEST website, re-enter your login details into Sage Payroll. This is done during the submission process:

1. Select Summary.

2. In the Auto Enrolment / Pensions section select View submission details.

3. Select Submit Online.

4. In the Enter your NEST login details screen delete and re-type your Username and Password, then select Submit.

If the same error message appears, or if you have changed your login email address please contact us so we update the login details on our systems.

This error can be caused by your NEST credentials being entered incorrectly, or if a change was made to your NEST login email address.

Your NEST credentials are the login details for the NEST website portal.
To check your credentials, login to the NEST website (opens in a new tab).

If you can't log into the NEST website, speak to NEST to find out why the login is not working.

If you can log into the NEST website, re-enter your login details into Sage Payroll. This is done during the submission process:

1. Select Summary.

2. In the Auto Enrolment / Pensions section select View submission details.

3. Select Submit Online.

4. In the Enter your NEST login details screen delete and re-type your User name and Password, then select Submit.

If the same message appears, or if you have changed your login email address please contact us, so we update the login details on our systems.

You need to check the contribution file you are uploading.

The NEST header and trailer records refer to multiple parts of the pension contribution file you are trying to upload to NEST.
You will need to compare the payment source name and group name you created on the NEST Portal against the names they have in Sage Payroll.

If the names don’t match exactly, you will need to change them in Sage Payroll.

To check this in NEST:

1. Log into the NEST website (opens in a new tab).

2. Select Manage Payment Sources then Your Payment sources to find the payment source names you've created.

3. Select Manage Groups then Your Groups to find the group names you've created.

To check and amend the payment source and group names in Sage Payroll:

1. Select Pensions.

2. Select Edit pension.

3. To make a change select View / Edit.

If you have multiple groups set up in Sage Payroll, you will also need to check each employee, to make sure they are assigned to the correct group:

1. Select Employees.

2. Select the Employee name to open their record.

3. Select Workplace pensions.

   The group name will appear in the Pension plan field.

4. If you need to change the pension details, select Edit. Once you've made the changes select Save.

You can then re-try the submission. To do this select Summary then View submission details and then Submit Online.

If the same error appears after you've completed these steps, the contribution schedule on NEST does not match the schedule that Sage Payroll is submitting.

To fix this, speak to NEST to change the frequency on their portal to 'tax weekly or tax monthly instead of weekly or monthly.

This error means some of the pension scheme details in Sage Payroll (usually the Employer Reference) do not match those on NEST.

To change these in Sage Payroll:

1. Select Pensions.

2. Find your NEST pension and select Edit Pension.

The Employer Reference needs to be identical to the NEST employer ID.

The pay frequency set in Sage Payroll is different to the pay frequency set up with NEST.

This error means the frequency selected on your group on NEST doesn’t match the pay frequency you are using in Sage Payroll. When the periods Sage Payroll is submitting, don't match to a frequency on the NEST portal the information cannot be accepted by NEST.

To fix this, set up a new group on NEST with a frequency that matches Sage Payroll.

If you are using 2-Weekly or 4-weekly you need to make sure that you have the contribution schedule set up on NEST to match the dates that Sage Payroll is trying to submit.

To see what Sage Payroll is submitting:

1. From Pay Runs select the pay run you need to submit.

2. In the Pension submissions section select View Submission Details.

3. You will see the Pay reference period dates (from and to) above the list of employee contributions.

NEST have produced guidance to set up your new groups on their portal with the payment frequencies of Tax Weekly and Tax Monthly. If you have any queries about this process, please contact NEST directly or you can access this guidance on the NEST website (opens in a new tab).

Once you have set up the new group on NEST with the correct pay frequency, change the group name in Sage Payroll so it matches the new group you have set up:

1. Select Pensions then select Edit Pension.

2. To edit the group name select View / Edit.

3. Change the name to be identical to the new group you set up on NEST, this includes capital letters, lower case letters, spaces and special characters.

This error occurs when the submission you are sending includes an enrolment file with an employee who has already been enrolled on NEST.

NEST do not accept a submission that duplicates something that has already been done.

To fix this, manually submit the affected pay run contributions file to NEST using the steps below:

1. In Sage Payroll, select Pay runs then select the pay run for the failed submission.

2. Select View Submission Error or View Submission Details.

3. On the right-hand side of the screen select Manage Pension File.

4. Select Regenerate CSV File. This will download a zipped folder onto your computer.

5. Locate the downloaded folder and unzip it.

   There are two files in this folder; the enrolment file and the contribution file.

   You only need to upload the contribution File to NEST.

6. To upload the file from Sage Payroll Select Manage Pension File and then Open NEST Portal followed by Manage Contribution Schedule.

Once you have successfully uploaded the file to NEST, go back to Sage Payroll and select Manage Pension File, and then select Confirm CSV Upload.

This marks the submission as having been done manually and clears the error message.

This means an employee is enrolling in a pension scheme but their enrolment date is in the future.

For example if you were doing this on 28 April 2021 but the employees’ enrolment date is 1 May 2021, the submission cannot be accepted before the 1 May 2021.

To fix this, wait until the date specified in the error before you submit this pension contribution data to NEST.

This means an employee has already opted out of the pension, but has not provided an opt out reference number.

The Opt out reference number is found on the notice to opt out of pension saving form that the member submitted to NEST.
If your employee opts out of the pension using the NEST online system, the submission should include their opt out reference number.

The steps to resolve the error depend on whether you have the opt out reference number.

To clear this error, you can follow the steps below:

If you have the opt out reference, you can edit the pay run in Sage Payroll to add the reference.

1. Select Pay Runs, then select the relevant pay run you are trying to submit to NEST.

2. Select Edit Pay Run.

3. Select the employee you need to add the reference to and select Manage Enrolment then Opt Out / Leave (you may need to scroll down to see this option if you have a lot of payments and deductions for this employee).

4. In the Did the employee opt-out using a NEST paper Form? option, Select Yes and fill in the opt out reference.

5. Select Opt Out.

Resubmit the pension file by selecting Summary then View submission details then Submit Online.

If you do not have the opt out reference, to use the steps below to manually submit this period to the NEST portal using a CSV file.

1. In Sage Payroll select Pay Runs, then select the relevant pay run are trying to submit to NEST.

2. Select Summary then View submission details.

3. Select Manage Pension File, then select Regenerate CSV file.

   This will download the CSV File you need.

4. To upload the file to NEST, select Manage Pension File and then open NEST portal.

You will need to speak to NEST for the steps needed to upload the file.

This error means employees have been assigned to a pension scheme during the pay run and there is information missing from the pension scheme.

To add the missing details:

1. Select Pay Runs and choose the relevant pay run, then select Edit Pay Run.

2. For each employee that is assigned to the pension, select Manage Enrolment and in the drop-down menu select Change Pension Scheme.

3. Change the Pension Scheme, Pension Plan and Payment source from Default to the correct Pension Scheme, Plan and Payment source that the employee is assigned to, then select Save.

4. Once that is done for all employees on the pension scheme select Next and then View Summary.

5. Resubmit the pension details to NEST by selecting Summary then View submission details then Submit Online.

This error means an employee is assigned to a specific group in Sage Payroll, but on NEST they are assigned to a different group.

The employee has to be assigned to the correct group on both systems.

If you need to change the details on the NEST Portal, speak to NEST to move the employee from one group to another.

Once the employee has been moved to the correct group, you can resubmit the pension contribution data from Sage Payroll.

If you need to change the details in Sage Payroll:

1. Select Pay Runs then select the relevant pay run you are trying to submit to NEST.

2. Select Edit Pay run.

3. Select the employee, and then Manage Enrolment.

4. Choose Change Pension Scheme.

5. Check the Pension Scheme, Pension Plan and Payment source are correct. If required, change them to match the details held on the NEST portal, then select Save.

This means the pension groups for your employee in Sage Payroll don't match the groups set up with NEST.

Use the steps below to check the group details on both systems are identical and are correctly attached to the employees in this pay run, then resubmit the data to NEST.

To check and amend the group names in Sage Payroll:

1. Select Pensions then select Edit pension.

2. To make a change select View / Edit.

To check this in NEST:

1. Log into the NEST portal and select Manage Groups.

2. Amend the groups if needed.

3. Select Manage Payment Sources.

4. For each employee that is assigned to the pension, select Manage Enrolment and then Change Pension Scheme.

5. Check the Pension Scheme, Pension Plan and Payment source are correct.

6. Select Save.

Once this is done for all employees who are part of this pension scheme and are being paid in this pay run, resubmit the pension contribution data to NEST. In Sage Payroll select Summary then View submission details then Submit Online.

This error means we were unable to contact NEST.

Use the steps below to refresh and resubmit your data:

1. Select Pay Runs and then select the pay run you are trying to submit.

2. Select Edit Pay Run.

3. For each employee that is assigned to the pension, select Manage Enrolment then Change Pension Scheme.

4. Change the Pension Scheme, Pension Plan and Payment source from Default to the exact Pension Scheme, Plan and Payment source that the employee is assigned to.

5. Select Save.

You can now resubmit the pension details to NEST by selecting Summary then View submission details then Submit Online.

If you receive the same error message, contact our support team so we can update these details on our systems.

A list of common terms used by Nest Pensions, with an explanation of what each term means.