27 May 2015
The National Hairdressers’ Federation is opening its salon pension scheme to all hairdressing, beauty salons and barber shops to ensure salon owners across the industry can meet their compulsory obligations to provide a Qualifying Workplace Pension Scheme to all eligible employees.
NHBF chief executive Hilary Hall said:
“Opening up our tailor-made salon scheme to non-members is a key move to support our industry through the biggest pension changes for generations. No hair or beauty business, not even those with only one employee, is exempt from providing staff with a qualifying pension scheme, even if they then choose to opt out. We want to give our industry a pension solution that’s right for salon businesses, and which is cost-effective as well as simple to operate.”
Businesses must have a pension scheme in place by their ‘staging date’, which is assigned by the government.
Salons need to look out for a letter from The Pensions Regulator which says when their staging date will fall. Or owners can visit www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk and enter their employer PAYE number to check the date.
The new rules will come into force across the industry in stages over the next two years depending on the number of employees each Salon has. Failure to meet employer responsibilities could cost salons up to £50,000.
Auto-enrolment is a legal requirement with 3 points employers must comply with:
- To provide all of your workers with access to a qualifying workplace pension scheme
- To automatically enrol eligible workers into a qualifying workplace pension scheme
- To pay a minimum level of contributions
Paul Curry, NHBF’s President continued: “Because historically, offering a pension within hairdressing has been the exception, this change will greatly impact salon owners and we want to make it as easy as possible. So we’re offering courses across the country around pensions so you can find out what you need to be doing to get ready and how your pension scheme will work.
“As time is pushing on I urge all salon owners to sign up to a scheme as soon as they can, particularly as The Pensions Regulator has repeatedly warned the industry that putting in appropriate payroll processes, assessing which employees are eligible and communicating the change to staff can all take time, often as much as a year.”
Aside from guaranteed acceptance to salons, the NHBF pension scheme offers free software and discounted fees for NHBF members. Currently the one-off registration fee for NHBF members to set up a scheme is reduced to £195 + VAT until 31 August 2015, rising to £295 + VAT after that. For non-members the registration fee is £395 + VAT. There is a yearly governance fee for the scheme, but this does not need to be paid until your staging date arrives. or call 01234 831965. Anyone interested in attending an event visit
The NHBF has partnered with Wren Sterling (formerly Towergate Financial) to deliver the NHBF Pension Scheme, including a programme educational webinars and evening events for employers. Wren Sterling’s independent financial advisers are based all over the UK and experts in pensions, including Auto Enrolment, workplace benefits and protection.
To find out more call 01234 831965 or visit www.nhfpensions.co.uk