Add a NOW: Pensions scheme

If you have a NOW: Pensions scheme for your employees, you can easily set this up in Sage Payroll.

This article explains:

  • The NOW: Pensions information you need and where to find it.

  • How to set up your NOW: Pensions scheme in Sage Payroll.

  • What you need to do after you have set up your NOW: Pensions scheme.

Before you start

Before you can set up your pension scheme in Sage Payroll, you need certain bits of information from NOW: Pensions.

It is really important to get these, so the pension calculates correctly for your employees.

To find this information, you should log in to your online account (opens in a new tab).

You will need the following details:

  • Your employer code.
  • Your pay code for this payroll. This is a four digit code provided by NOW: Pensions that you can use to identify one payroll from another.
  • The type of contribution. Whether it is salary sacrifice, deducted before tax or deducted after tax.
  • Your plan type. Whether it is auto enrolment standard 101/102, stepped saving, saving plus or matched saving.
Note: Plan type does not apply for salary sacrifice pensions.
  • Your contributions payment date. When you pay your pension contributions to NOW: Pensions.

After you've gathered all the information you need to accurately set up your NOW: Pensions scheme, you can add it to Sage Payroll.

How to set up your NOW: Pensions scheme

  1. Select Pensions, then Add a new pension.
  2. Select NOW: Pensions.
  1. In the Employer reference box, enter your Employer Code provided by NOW: Pensions.

  1. Select Add Plan and complete the relevant fields from the table.

    Plan name Enter a name for this plan.
    Pay code Enter your pay code.
    Type of contribution

    Choose the type of contribution you have with NOW: Pensions.

    • Salary sacrifice - The money paid into the pension is taken from your employee's gross pay before tax and National Insurance is calculated.
      Note: If you choose Salary sacrifice, you then need to enter the percentage contribution for the employer and employee. The employee contribution is shown as a negative payment on the payslip.

    • Contribution deducted before tax - The money paid into the pension is taken from your employee’s gross pay, before tax is calculated. Taxable gross pay is reduced by the amount of the pension contribution, therefore your employee does not pay tax on this contribution.

    • Contribution deducted after tax - The money paid into the pension is taken after tax is calculated, and the pension provider claims back the Basic Rate tax paid on this contribution, direct from HMRC.
  1. Select Next and complete the relevant fields from the table.

    2. Plan Type

    Choose the type of plan you have with NOW: Pensions.

    • 101 - Auto enrolment standard - This is classed as Qualifying Earnings for auto enrolment.
      Contribution levels from 6 April 2019 are 3% Employer and 5% Employee

    • 102 - Auto enrolment standard - Same as 101 but is classed as Pensionable Pay.
      Contribution levels from 6 April 2019 are 4% Employer and 5% Employee.

    • 103 - Stepped saving - This is classed as Pensionable Pay. A phased introduction to more generous employer contributions.
      Contribution levels from 6 April 2019 are 6% Employer and 3% Employee.

    • 104 - Saving plus - This is classed as Pensionable Pay.
      Total Contributions of 10% or more.

    • 105 - Matched saving - This is classed as Pensionable Pay.
      Member contributions, based on basic earnings, are matched by employer contributions within minimum and maximum amounts.
      Flexible minimum and maximum ranges from 4.5% each.

      Note: Plan type will not show if you selected Salary sacrifice in Step 1.

    Contributions payment date Select the date you pay the pension contributions to your pension provider.
    Default plan (optional) To automatically enrol all employees into this pension scheme, select this check box. You can change this for individual employees when you process their pay run.

  2. Select Save. You can repeat the process to add more plans if required.
  3. Select the Qualifying Scheme check box.
  4. To read the terms, select the our terms link. Then to accept them, select the Terms check box.
  5. Select Save.

Next steps

If you couldn't find all your NOW: Pensions information, you can contact them directly on 0330 100 3334.

If you already use Sage Payroll and have set up a new pension, you need to add your employees to the scheme

If you have set up pensions as part of an FPS import, you can now continue the FPS import process

You can run a pension contributions report in Sage Payroll. You can use this to manually enter your pension data on the NOW: Pensions online template, or save it as a file and upload it.

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