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The People’s Pension
moneysoft.co.uk/support/the-peoples-pension
Use this guide to setup Payroll Manager to work with The People’s Pension.
1. Entering the Duties Start Date.
2. Adding Pension Scheme details.
3. Assessing the workforce.
4. Adding Employees and setting pension contributions.
5. Sending letters to employees.
6. Producing CSV upload files to send to the pension provider.
1- Duties Start Date
Every employer has a date from when the automatic enrolment duties come into force for
their business. This is called the ‘Duties Start Date’. The duties start date is the date that
an employer takes on their first employee(s).
Click ‘Employer’ from the main menu, then ‘Employer Details’, then click on the ‘Auto-
Enrolment pensions’ tab.
Duties Start Date  – enter the Duties Start Date in the first field on this screen
(previously referred to as the ‘staging date’).
Re-enrolment date  – this box should be left blank at this stage. (Re-enrolment
takes place 3 years after the Duties Start date).
Defer/postpone until – this box should be left blank, unless you are using
postponement for all of your employees. If this is the case then enter the relevant
date. You should refer to The Pensions Regulator website if you require more
information on postponement.
Click ‘OK’ to exit this screen.
Note: The bottom of this screen has a section headed ‘NEST’. Please ignore these fields
completely, as they are only to be used with the NEST Pension Scheme.
2- Pension Scheme details
Click ‘Pensions’ from the main menu, then click ‘Pension Scheme Details’
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The tabs along the top of this screen allow you to add the details of up to 5 different
pension schemes. Typically you may only use one of these tabs, but in cases where you
have employees that are paid at different pay frequencies (e.g. some weekly and some
monthly paid employees) then you should create a separate pension scheme within
Payroll Manager for each pay frequency and name them accordingly (e.g. ‘The People’s
Pension weekly’ and ‘The People’s Pension Monthly’).
To enter details of the pension scheme:
Click on the first available tab along the top of this screen.
Name – Enter ‘The People’s Pension’ (or similar) in this field.
Reference – An optional field where you can add your own reference to appear on
reports. You can leave this field blank if you wish.
Provider type – Select ‘The People’s Pension’ from the drop-down list.
Account Number – Enter the account number allocated to you by The People’s
Pension during the set up of your account.
Tax Relief:
VERY IMPORTANT: When you first visit this screen the ‘No tax relief box’ is checked.  It
is very important that you determine the correct tax relief method for your particular
pension scheme and select one of the following three options before proceeding, as this
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will affect the calculation of pension contributions. If you are unsure which option to select
then please contact The People’s Pension for advice.
Basic rate tax relief at source -This option should be selected for pension
schemes where the pension provider claims tax relief on behalf of the employee and
adds it to the employee’s pension pot.
Net pay arrangement -This option should be selected if  the pension deduction is
taken before the calculation of tax, so that tax relief is claimed via the payroll.
Salary sacrifice/exchange -Salary sacrifice is an arrangement where a worker
agrees to give up part of their salary and in return their employer pays it into their
pension pot as part of their employer contributions. Because of this the worker
receives a lower salary. If you have taken specialist advice and have decided to use
a salary sacrifice scheme which meets HMRC requirements and complies with your
employer duties then select this option.
Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs):
This pension has AVCs –  Leave this box un-ticked initially. If at a later date an
employee wishes to make an additional voluntary contribution to their pension (and
providing that the scheme allows for this) then tick this box, which will create an
extra column in the ‘Pensions’ section of the ‘Pay Details’ screen.
Earnings basis – select one of the following options:
% apply to all pensionable pay – If your pension scheme rules dictate that
pension contributions are calculated on all pensionable earnings (i.e. from the first
pound of pensionable earnings) then tick this box, otherwise leave it un-ticked.
% apply to banded qualifying earnings only – If your pension scheme rules
dictate that pension contributions are calculated on qualifying earnings only – i.e.
those earnings falling between the Lower and Upper thresholds for automatic
enrolment then tick this box, otherwise leave it un-ticked. (The bands for 2025-26
and for 2026-27 are £120 - £967 for weekly paid employees and £520 - £4189 for
monthly paid employees. )
At the bottom-left of this screen is a box marked ‘Include all employees in contribution
files (even if they have not joined or opted in’). You should leave this box un-ticked.
The fields on the top-right hand side of the screen (Address, Postcode, Telephone etc.)
are not used for auto-enrolment purposes and so can be left blank. If you wish to, you
could record your pension scheme details here for reference.
Default contribution rates:
These are pre-set to whatever the current legal minimum contributions are, which for
2025-26 and for 2026-27 are 5% (employee) and 3% (employer). If you wish to set
different default rates then click the button marked ‘Change default pension rates’,
otherwise click ‘OK’ to save the Pension Scheme Details information.
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Note: Setting the default contribution rates on this screen does not automatically set the
contribution percentages for each employee. You still need to enter the actual
percentages individually on the ‘Employee Details’ screen (see section 4 below). Setting
the ‘default’ percentage on this screen simply makes the process slightly quicker.
3- Assessing the workforce
The ‘Assessment’ procedure determines which of your workers must be automatically
enrolled into the pension scheme and is dependent on the age and earnings of each
worker at the point of being assessed. You should run the first assessment on your Duties
Start Date, and then again on every subsequent pay period, to determine which
employees need to be added to the scheme .
Running the assessment
Select the relevant pay period on the Pay Details screen.
From the main menu click ‘Pensions’ and then ‘Assessment’.
The ‘Layout’ selector at the top of the report allows you to display the assessment
information in a number of ways (e.g. by Employee, by Category etc.).
The ‘Category’ of each employee determines the next course of action. You should
consult the guidance given by your pension provider and / or The Pensions
Regulator if you are unsure how to proceed. In general terms employees
categorised as ‘Eligible Jobholders’ will need to be automatically enrolled into
your pension scheme, whereas ‘Non-eligible Jobholders’ and ‘Entitled Workers’
have the right to join if they wish.
4- Adding Employees and setting contributions
After completing the Assessment procedure you can then add the relevant employees to
the pension scheme.
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From the main menu click ‘Employees’ then ‘Employee Details’ then click on the ‘Auto-
Enrolment pensions’ tab.
The following details need to be set for each employee joining the pension scheme. If an
employee is not joining the pension scheme do not complete any of the fields on
this screen.
Exclude from assessment – This box is un-ticked by default. If you have
individuals on the payroll that are not deemed to be subject to Automatic Enrolment
legislation (e.g. they are not ordinarily working in the UK) then you can exclude
them from the assessment process by ticking this box. You should consult The
Pensions Regulator documentation before selecting this option.
Auto-enrolment pension – Select ‘The People’s Pension’ from the drop down
box.
Worker Group – Enter the ID of the worker group that this employee belongs to.
You would have set up at least one ‘Worker Group’ when you set up your account
with the People’s Pension. This field is case sensitive so ensure that the ID you
enter matches exactly with the one used when setting up the People’s Pension
scheme
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Status – Select the correct category for the employee from the drop-down list. This
field is initially set to ‘unknown’ and must be changed to one of the following:
Excluded – For those employees that are either under 16 or over 74
Entitled Worker
Non-eligible jobholder
Eligible jobholder
Defer/postpone until – If you are using postponement for an employee enter the
deferral date here, otherwise leave this field blank.
Date joined – Enter the date that the worker is joining the pension scheme – you
must complete this field before you can set pension contributions for this
employee.
Date left – Leave this field blank initially – if the employee subsequently leaves the
pension scheme then enter the leaving date here.
Date opted out – Leave this field blank initially- if the employee subsequently opts-
out of the pension scheme then enter the opt out date here.
Date opted in – If the employee has been assessed as being a ‘Non-eligible
jobholder’ but wishes to opt in to the pension scheme then enter the opt in date
here, otherwise leave this field blank.
Date eligible – Enter the date that  the employee is eligible for the auto-enrolment
rules to apply. This will be the same as the assessment date.
Do not re-assess on the re-enrolment date – Leave this field blank at this point.
Re-enrolment is a procedure which takes place 3 years after the Duties Start date
and applies to employees that have previously opted out of the pension scheme.
Employees that opt-out within 12 months prior to the re-enrolment date do not need
to be assessed at this point – in which case you would tick this box.
Continue to assess – Leave this box un-ticked, unless the employee has been
assessed as an entitled worker and has then chosen to ‘join’ the pension scheme. In
such cases you still need to assess them in each pay period to see if they become a
jobholder. Tick this box in order to keep assessing such employees.
Set contributions % –  Click on this button to set the relevant pension contribution
percentages for that employee. (Note: in some circumstances you may wish to
specify a fixed amount, rather than a percentage. In such cases you should ignore
this button, and instead manually enter the amounts in the ‘Pensions’ section of the
‘Pay Details’ screen).
Ensure the correct pension scheme has been selected, enter the date that you
wish to set the contributions from (which is the first pay date on which contributions
will be taken), make sure that the contribution percentages are set correctly, and
click ‘OK‘. Payroll Manager will then automatically add these deductions to the ‘Pay
Details’ screen.
Date Letters Sent (top-right) – (Auto-enrolled, Not enrolled, Postponement)
Leave these fields blank initially. Payroll Manager will automatically populate these
fields as appropriate (see section 5 below – ‘Sending letters to employees’).
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Once you have finished entering
the details of all employees joining
the scheme you can produce a
report which allows you to check
that all details have been input
correctly. Click ‘Pensions’ from
the main menu and then
‘Employee Pensions Report’ to
produce this report.
5- Sending letters to employees.
Following the ‘Assessment’ procedure described in section 3 of this guide, you should
communicate with each employee to inform them if they have been automatically enrolled
into your pension scheme or not. The Pensions Regulator provides three letter templates
for use when employees are being ‘automatically enrolled’, for those that are ‘not
being automatically enrolled’ and those for whom you are using ‘postponement’.
Payroll Manager has each of these templates built-in, to allow you to produce the relevant
letter for each employee.
Letters can be produced as follows:
From the main menu click ‘Pensions‘ then ‘Letters‘ and select the appropriate letter
type.
Select the relevant employee(s) and click ‘OK’.
If you choose to print / save as pdf / email the letter to the employee then Payroll
Manager will ask if you wish to record this fact in the employee’s record. The date
will automatically be recorded on the Employees – Employee Details – Auto
Enrolment Pensions’ screen, in the ‘Date letters sent’ section.
6 – Producing CSV upload files
The People’s Pension allows you to upload csv files to their website to inform them of
enrolments, employee details, pension contributions etc. Payroll Manager can produce
these files for you.
IMPORTANT: Most pension providers require that each employee has a ‘Title‘ (e.g.Mr,
Mrs, Ms, Miss etc.) and a ‘Works Number/Payroll ID‘ entered in order for them to accept
your csv file. Check that you have these items entered for each employee by
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clicking ‘Employees’ then ‘Employee Details’ from the main menu in Payroll Manager
(Click the ‘Personal’ tab to view the ‘Title’ field, click the ‘Work’ tab to view the ‘Works
number/payroll ID’ field).
To produce the pension upload csv file:
You should send a csv file to The People’s Pension each time that you make
pension deductions from employees – i.e. on each pay date. This file will also
provide details of any employees that are joining the pension scheme in that pay
period
Make sure that you have the correct pay period selected on the ‘Pay Details’ screen,
then from the main menu click ‘Pensions’ then ‘Generate upload files’ then click
‘The People’s Pension’.
The report shows which employees will be included in the csv file, together with
their NI number, Pensionable Pay and Employee and Employer pension
contributions. A representation of how the csv will ‘look’ is shown at the bottom of
the report.
Click the button marked ‘Click here to create the file’ to save the file somewhere
(e.g. the desktop) on your computer. You can then upload this csv file to the The
People’s Pension website, according to their instructions.
IMPORTANT: You should not use Excel (or any other spreadsheet software) to view
your csv files after creating them as doing so may ‘reformat’ some of the fields
causing The People’s Pension to reject your file.
If you experience problems when trying to upload your csv information then please
contact The People’s Pension in the first instance.
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