Tell your employees about your new pension scheme
Letters the law requires you to send
It’s a legal requirement that you write to your employees and tell them about your new pension scheme within the first six weeks after your duties start date. (Your duties start date is the day your first member of staff joined the company – you cannot change this date.) While your payroll software might have suitable communication templates to send to your employees automatically, you might have to amend the information so it relates to your specific situation, and then instruct the software to send it.
If you do need to produce your own employee communications, The Pensions Regulator provides templates that you can use. You will need to assess your employees first as the communications they receive will differ depending on the type of worker they are (entitled worker, eligible jobholder, non-eligible jobholder).
If you choose to postpone your assessment and joining, you must tell your employees within six weeks of your duties start date. The Pensions Regulator also provides a template for this letter.
Documents you must give your employees
It's your responsibility to make sure that each of your employees is provided with all of the information necessary to help them understand how their pension is going to work, and what the benefits and risks involved are. Please ensure that you give them a copy of ‘Your company pension scheme - An essential guide for employees’ (PDF 452MB) before they join the scheme to allow them time to make an informed decision.
You also need to give your employees details of the scheme's default investment strategy - My Future Focus Lifestage Approach (PDF 222KB).
If you have chosen a different default investment strategy you can find more employee guides on our Fund Centre.
If they have any questions or problems
If your employees have any queries or need to speak to us, please provide them with the contact details below. They will need to quote their policy details.
Aviva, PO Box 520, Surrey Street,
Norwich, NR1 3WG
Pensions Help Line on 0800 145 5744
Monday to Friday 8.00am – 8.00pm
Our opening hours may be different depending on which team you need to speak to.