How to sign up as an employer
If your work is associated with the Church of England, you are welcome to use Pension Builder 2014.
Pension scheme rules
Before joining, you are welcome to read a copy of our full Trust Deed and Rules.
Introducing Employer Hub
Enrol staff, update their details, and tell us when people leave
Employer how to guides
Find out how to get the most from Employer Hub (link to internal documents and videos)
What do I need to know?
How to enrol someone new
You can enrol new employees through Employer Hub.
Who can I enrol?
Anyone can join if they are over 16 and in approved Church employment. If you’re unsure if someone meets the criteria, just get in touch - we can help.
Backdating Membership
Need to backdate someone’s membership? That’s absolutely fine—just let us know the details and we’ll guide you through the process.
Automatic Enrolment
Under Automatic Enrolment rules, you’re required to:
- Enrol certain staff into a pension scheme
- Re-enrol them every three years
To check who you need to enrol, visit the Pensions Regulator’s guidance for employers.
Contribution Requirements
- Contributions must be at least 8% of salary each month.
- This can be split between the employer and employee, but we expect the employer to pay at least half of the total contribution.
All our pension schemes include life cover as a valuable benefit. You can choose the level of cover based on a multiple of salary:
Life Cover Level | Cost (as % of salary) |
|---|---|
2x salary | 0.5% |
3x salary | 0.75% |
4x salary | 1% |
To ensure this remains a tax-free benefit in kind, the employer must cover the full cost of life cover.
Changing salary or hours
If someone’s salary or hours change, their pension contributions will change too. You can update us through through Employer Hub. If needed, you can backdate the changes, and we’ll either collect or refund any difference in contributions.
Salary sacrifice
Salary sacrifice is a tax-efficient way for people to contribute into their pension.
Instead of pension contributions being taken from a member's income before tax, the employer pays all the pension contributions in exchange for salary being reduced, usually resulting in the person paying less tax. There is an NI saving for members and employers too.
If you are looking to set up salary sacrifice, or change your current arrangement, this gov.uk site is a good place to go for guidance. You might also want to consider taking your own legal or HR advice.
If you would like to use salary sacrifice, just let us know the salary to use for pension contributions. You can let us know through Employer Hub
When Someone Leaves
You can let us know when someone leaves through the Employer Hub.
If They’ve Been in the Scheme for Less Than 2 Years:
- They can transfer their pension to another provider
- If they choose not to transfer, we’ll offer a refund of their contributions, if any, minus tax
- We’ll also refund your contributions, but we’ll retain the amount collected for life cover
Leaving CWPF, or closing your organisation down (Section 75 debts)
If you decide to stop using CWPF as your pension scheme, or your organisation is closing down, this could trigger a Section 75 debt. Examples when this could happen include:
You no longer have any employees who are enrolled in CWPF, and you do not intend to enrol new employees into CWPF
You wish to use a different pension scheme
Your organisation is closing down / winding up
It is vital you understand the implications this could have. You might need to pay a final exit debt, commonly called a Section 75 debt. There are mechanisms in place to help you. We are here to help if you do trigger a Section 75 debt.
