Smart Pension integration guide
Overview
ABBPay can connect directly to Smart Pension. Once connected, members, groups and contributions flow between ABBPay and Smart without re-keying, and ABBPay keeps track of what Smart will collect and when. If you prefer, you can skip the connection and upload files to Smart yourself.
This guide is for UK employers who use, or want to use, Smart Pension for auto-enrolment.
Before you start
- You have access to Payroll > Pensions.
- Your company's PAYE reference is saved in ABBPay (it is used to find your staging date).
- Smart Pension is available to your company. If you do not see it as an option, contact support.
- For a new Smart account, have your company details, signatories, admins, scheme start date and tax relief basis ready.
Connecting to Smart Pension
Go to Payroll > Pensions > Pension Schemes > Add Scheme and choose Smart Pension. There are three ways to set up.
- Create account. Registers your company with Smart from inside ABBPay and connects it. You provide company details, legal structure, signatories, admins, scheme start date, tax relief basis (net pay arrangement or relief at source) and the default contribution.
- Connect existing account. Links an existing Smart account using its company ID. Existing data is kept.
- Manual export. No connection. You download files and upload them to Smart yourself (see Exporting files below).
A manual company can move to a direct connection later. You can disconnect at any time, which also removes the link at Smart.
Finish setting up Smart Pension
For a direct connection, a Finish setting up Smart Pension card lists what Smart needs before it accepts members and contributions.
- Staging date. ABBPay looks it up from The Pensions Regulator using your PAYE reference and saves it.
- Direct debit. Shows the mandate status. Select the option to authorise it on Smart's secure page and you return to ABBPay afterwards. If Smart has not enabled this for your company, the card tells you how to do it in Smart.
- Scheme documents. Lists the documents to sign with signed or unsigned status and a link to sign them in Smart.
The card disappears once everything is complete. After that, changes to your company details in ABBPay (addresses, tax office references, pensionable earnings type, default percentage, salary sacrifice availability, renewal date and regulator reference) are kept in step with Smart.
Pension groups
Open the scheme and go to its groups. A default group is created for you. You can import groups from Smart, push ABBPay groups to Smart, or sync both ways. Each group shows Synced, Update pending or Not synced.
Each group also sets the contribution type, rates, earnings basis and payment day. See Pension providers overview for the options.
Assessing and enrolling employees
- ABBPay assesses employees every morning and enrols eligible jobholders into your default group. Changes are sent to Smart in the background.
- You can also enrol, opt out and re-enrol from the group screen or an employee's Pension tab.
- If an employee already has a Smart membership, enter their existing Smart ID on their record so ABBPay links to it instead of creating a duplicate.
- Smart's welcome letter is requested automatically for each new member.
- Leavers are sent to Smart with their leaving date once Smart's exit reason is configured. Otherwise the date is held back so Smart does not reject the member.
- If a sync fails, the employee is flagged Smart Pension sync failed on their record. Fix the issue and save again.
Postponement and re-enrolment work as described in the overview. When you postpone an employee on a direct connection, the postponement is also registered with Smart so Smart does not enrol them early.
How contributions are calculated
Contributions use the group's contribution type, rates and earnings basis, and are deducted in the pay run with the right tax treatment. The pay run also checks the statutory minimums.
After each pay run
- Complete the pay run. Contributions are sent to Smart automatically.
- Open the pay run's Pension Contributions page to check the status of each row.
- If you edit a completed pay run, only Smart's figures are re-sent, and a changed figure updates the existing contribution rather than creating a second one.
- Smart's warnings, such as a rate mismatch, are shown against the contribution rows.
Checking status
The Contribution status panel shows, for each contribution, its state at Smart, the amount Smart will collect by direct debit, the collection date and the latest payment. It refreshes twice a day. Select Sync now to refresh sooner. If you press it straight after a refresh, it waits about a minute.
Once a day ABBPay also reads opt-outs, ceased memberships and rejoins from Smart and updates your employee records.
Exporting files (manual mode)
On the pay run's Pension Contributions page, or the Smart Pension export manager, download CSV, Excel or PAPDIS XML (versions 1.1 and 1.2) and upload them in Smart.
Opt-outs and leavers
Opt-outs and rejoins made at Smart appear in ABBPay after the daily check. To record one yourself, use Opt Out on the employee's Pension tab with the date and reason.
Tips and FAQ
Do I have to connect? No. Manual export gives you the same figures as files.
An employee shows "sync failed". Check their details are complete (date of birth, start date, address) and try again.
Will a correction create a duplicate? No. Contributions are protected against double sending.