Integration between a workplace pension provider and a chosen payroll provider to accurately calculate employer pension contributions can make a big difference to the daily working life of payroll professionals.
In this insight we look in detail at how different providers integrate with the Just Global Payroll and Pegasus Payroll systems.
As a smaller payroll provider, it could be easy for workplace pension giants to forget about Just Global Payroll. However, with 500 companies using their fully managed services covering payroll, auto enrolment, bookkeeping and HR services, integration with Just could be the make or break for employers.
Most payroll professionals use some level of automated payroll management solution to help them manage company payroll, processing data and making payments, and managing workplace pension contributions.
One of the smaller, but fully managed with a wide range of additional services, payroll systems is Just Global Payroll (Just).
Our data shows that just four workplace pension providers currently have live/active integrations with Just: Aegon Master Trust, Aegon Workplace ARC, Aviva Designer, Royal London.
Royal London, Aegon Master Trust and Aegon Workplace ARC offer clients the ability to automate the same range of processes:
- Receiving autoenrollment assessment of employees lists
- Receiving postponement notifications
- Receiving employer setup notifications
- Retrieving employer setup details
- Receiving autoenrollment lists of assessed employees/enrolling workers notifications
- Receiving member contributions / autoenrollment payroll update notifications
- Receiving setup details/joiners notifications
- Receiving payment approval notifications
- Receiving payment schedules/contribution notifications
- Receiving opt-out notifications, receiving stopped contribution notification
- Retrieving refunds notifications
Aegon Master Trust and Aegon Workplace ARC do all this on a CSV file basis with the file generated by the payroll provider in an agreed file format and sent manually.
Royal London offers the same range of automated processes on a CSV File basis with the file manually mapped and uploaded by either the employer or payroll provider. A subtle but potentially important difference for the employer who may need to have more involvement in the process.
The integration offered by Aviva Designer is more of a mystery as although they have confirmed that they do integrate with Just Global, they were not able to confirm any of the processes we questioned them on.
Another payroll system often selected by companies looking to rid themselves of a time consuming and costly legacy payroll system is Pegasus. Pegasus provides accounting, payroll and business software for mid-sized companies.
Pegasus is part of the Infor business group. Infor build complete industry suites in the cloud and deploy software to over 90,000 organisations. Therefore workplace pension providers should be careful not to disregard Pegasus as simply a system for smaller employers, not worth building an integration around.
Our data shows that just three workplace pension providers currently have live/active integrations with Pegasus: Aegon Master Trust, Aegon Workplace ARC, and Royal London.
Royal London, Aegon Master Trust and Aegon Workplace ARC offer clients the ability to automate the same range of processes:
- Receiving autoenrollment assessment of employees lists
- Receiving postponement notifications
- Receiving employer setup notifications
- Retrieving employer setup details
- Receiving autoenrollment lists of assessed employees/enrolling workers notifications
- Receiving member contributions / autoenrollment payroll update notifications
- Receiving setup details/joiners notifications
- Receiving payment approval notifications
- Receiving payment schedules/contribution notifications
- Receiving opt-out notifications, receiving stopped contribution notification
- Retrieving refunds notifications
Aegon Master Trust and Aegon Workplace ARC do all this on a CSV file basis with the file generated by the payroll provider in an agreed file format and sent manually.
Royal London offers the same range of automated processes on a CSV File basis with the file manually mapped and uploaded by either the employer or payroll provider. A subtle but potentially important difference for the employer who may need to have more involvement in the process.
Both Just Global and Pegasus Payroll are less supported by providers than some of the larger payroll providers, which is no real surprise. It is worth noting that all integrations with workplace pension providers are done on a CSV file basis. Unlike some integrations with fellow payroll systems Sage and Xero, some of which are done on an API basis.
API integrations are generally the preferred method for HR and payroll professionals. They offer a real-time secure data connection from one software system to another. This limits the amount of rekeying of data and therefore the potential for human error or delays, as well as limiting the amount of work that needs to be done by the employer’s payroll team.
