Frequently asked questions about Contribution Monitoring

The Pensions Regulator (TPR) ask that Pension Providers, like Royal London, keep an eye on the contributions submitted by Employers. This means we need to check your contributions are in line with what we expect, based on the way the plans in your pensions scheme have been set up.

Royal London will be monitoring the contribution amounts submitted by employers, and checking if these match the contribution amounts Royal London expect. This is based on the contribution rates Royal London hold and the "pensionable earnings in the current contribution period" you include in the contribution submission.

For any contributions we are not expecting or any employees with missing details we will not collect contributions for these employees. During the contribution upload process you will be asked to complete any missing employee details, add any new employees, and confirm what action to take on unexpected contributions.

If you choose to ignore these warnings, we will not accept the contribution for that employee and your contribution schedule will be adjusted accordingly.

You can view a summary of any employees whose contributions were not collected on the contribution history page.

The information we require is an employees' pensionable earnings for the relevant contribution period. This should be the earnings that you've used to calculate the pension contribution based on your scheme's definition of pensionable pay. If the definition of pensionable pay is qualifying earnings, you'll need to exclude earnings below the lower earnings limit, and where relevant not include any earnings above the upper earnings limit. If using salary exchange for pension contributions, you'll need to provide us with the employees' pre salary exchange pensionable earnings.

All occupational and contract-based workplace pension schemes will have contribution checks carried out with an initial focus on schemes that submit their contributions online via our auto enrolment dashboard.

Yes – this is a minimum required standard and TPR expect Royal London to fulfil our monitoring responsibilities.

We have a duty to report any employers that fail to comply with the requirements to TPR. At this point, it's TPR's decision whether to impose any fines on the employer.

Employers will see clear messages throughout the contribution process when action is required. This may include assessment-related messages, contribution difference warnings and validation messages highlighting issues that need to be reviewed before contributions can be submitted. Employers will also be able to resolve certain issues directly within the contribution journey, reducing the need to leave the process and start again. These enhancements are designed to help identify and resolve potential issues earlier, improving contribution accuracy and reducing follow-up activity after submission.

Employers should correct any mismatches before submitting their contribution schedule. They can make updates through either the individual worker update option or the bulk CSV upload process, depending on how many records need to be amended. Validation checks will highlight any issues that require attention before submission. Once submitted, contribution updates are processed as normal. Where the submitted rates already match Royal London's existing records, no update will be processed as no change is required.

For employees that have a fixed contribution/sum paid for them each month, the validation check will be on the fixed amount paid compared to the fixed amount we are expecting.  However, we would still expect if they had earnings in the contribution period, that's entered.

You should include actual pensionable earnings. If a payment mismatch validation occurs, there are relevant dropdown options available.

Contact your Servicing Team.

If it is a temporary increase/decrease, then you do not need to contact us.

If you have amended the headings of your contribution template, then you will require to create a new template. The process to do this is outlined within the attached user guide (PDF) (opens in new window) and following templates:

• CMP scheme contribution template (.XLSX)
• RGP/SHR contribution template (.XLSX).

Call or email your Servicing Team via the contact us link on the top right of the auto enrolment dashboard and we can delete them for you.

There is a link called Contact Us in the top right-hand corner of the auto enrolment dashboard.

Click on the link in the top right-hand corner of the auto enrolment dashboard which says contact us and fill in the form.

Please note an employee cannot pay a fixed contribution amount if contributions are calculated on qualifying earnings or where salary exchange arrangements apply.

If choosing a fixed amount it is your responsibility as their employer to ensure the employee meets their statutory minimum contributions for auto enrolment.

Click on the link in the top right-hand corner of the auto enrolment dashboard which says contact us and fill in the form.

You can check the information we hold by requesting a bulk data extract from your Corporate Servicing Team.

You can easily update contribution rates for many of your employees through your auto enrolment dashboard. See our guide on Updating contributions.

• For employees with a plan number, update the rates individually or by uploading a CSV file.
• For employees who don't have a plan number yet you can update them using the 'Edit details' option by clicking the employee name on your workforce page.
• If the employee is set up with fixed contribution amounts rather than percentage rates, contact your Corporate Servicing Team through the Contact us section of the dashboard to request the change.

Salary exchange is sometimes referred to as salary sacrifice. Put simply, it's an agreement between you and your employees, where they agree to exchange part of their gross salary, bonus or even redundancy package for a pension contribution. It works in a similar way as other salary related benefit schemes, for example company car, cycle to work and childcare voucher schemes.

The earnings figure we will require to be input is the employees' pensionable earnings figure that the pension contribution % has been calculated from.  The dashboard will take the pensionable earnings figure provided and apply the contribution % held on our records to calculate the contribution amount we are expecting to receive.

The earnings figure we will require to be input is the employees' pensionable earnings figure that the pension contribution % has been calculated from. If a salary exchange agreement is written in a way that an employees':

• Pension contribution is calculated based on the pensionable pay prior to any other salary exchange deductions then we require the pensionable earnings figure pre other salary exchange deductions.
• Pensionable pay is reduced because of other salary exchange deductions and as a result their pension contribution reduces then we would require the pensionable earnings figure after the other salary exchange deductions.

The dashboard will take the pensionable earnings figure provided then apply the contribution %'s we have on our records to calculate the contribution amount that we would ordinarily expect.

Contact your Servicing Team, their contact details can be located by selecting 'contact us' at the top right corner of dashboard.

Contact your Servicing Team, their contact details can be located by selecting 'contact us' at the top right corner of dashboard.

Contact your Servicing Team, their contact details can be located by selecting 'contact us' at the top right corner of dashboard. You may also require to review and / or update the salary exchange agreements you have in place and you should seek your own advice in this regard.

Contact your Servicing Team, their contact details can be located by selecting 'contact us' at the top right corner of dashboard.

Before setting up a salary exchange arrangement, it's important to make sure you've got everything in place that's needed. This includes making amends to employees' contracts of employment, so they meet legal requirements. As this is a matter of employment law, you should speak to your legal advisers.

Any contribution deducted via salary exchange should be combined with the employer contribution amount when submitting a contribution to dashboard to avoid the employee erroneously receiving duplicate tax relief.

You should combine the exchanged bonus / redundancy payment with the employees' monthly contribution upload as an increased employer contribution amount. You will receive a mismatch validation upon submission where you can select the appropriate reason for the mismatch.

Additional information about salary exchange can be found in the following guides:

• An employer guide to introducing salary exchange (PDF) (opens in new window): This explains how salary exchange works and includes examples of the benefits and savings at employer and employee level.
• An employer guide to setting up salary exchange (PDF) (opens in new window): Detailing key considerations for employers when setting up their salary exchange arrangement.

As part of our contribution validation process, some workers may be identified as requiring an assessment before contributions can be accepted. You'll be able to complete the assessment within the Auto Enrolment Dashboard and then continue with your contribution or contribution rate update activity.

This means we don't hold a current assessment outcome for that worker. You'll need to complete the assessment process before contributions can be processed.

Some validation messages are warnings, while others may prevent the contribution from being submitted until the issue is resolved. Where a blocking validation is shown, you'll need to review the worker details or contribution amounts and correct any issues before continuing.

Where contribution amounts differ significantly from what we'd expect, we'll ask you to review the information submitted. This helps identify potential errors before contributions are processed and reduces the need for subsequent corrections.

The contribution received is 25% higher than expected. This can happen when tax relief has been included in the contribution amount, or when a gross contribution has been submitted instead of a net contribution. Please check the contribution values before resubmitting.

If you receive a warning or validation message, you should first review the information you've submitted to make sure it's accurate and up to date. Depending on the issue identified, you may be able to correct it directly within the contribution journey before resubmitting.

Before proceeding, check:

• Are the contribution amounts correct?
• Have contributions been deducted correctly through payroll?
• If employee contributions are deducted from pay, have they been deducted after tax where appropriate?
• Is the worker's pensionable earnings figure correct?
• Are the contribution rates held by Royal London still correct?
• Has there been a recent contribution rate change that needs to be updated?
• Does the worker require an assessment before contributions can be processed?
• Have all mandatory fields been completed correctly?

Once any issues have been corrected, review the contribution schedule and resubmit.

If you've reviewed the information and are still unable to resolve the issue, or you believe the information held by Royal London is incorrect, you may need to contact our Servicing Team for support.

Yes. For employees with a plan number, contribution rates can be updated individually or in bulk through the Auto Enrolment Dashboard using a CSV upload.

If the contribution rates submitted match the rates already held by Royal London, no change will be applied. The employee may not appear in the confirmation output because no update was required.

If a worker has been marked as having stopped regular contributions, you'll receive a warning when attempting to submit a contribution rate change. Review the worker's status before continuing.