First-Time Set-Up
Taking on your first employee? We confirm your duties start date, help you choose a qualifying scheme, assess your staff, prepare the letters and complete your declaration of compliance.
Ask About Set-UpAuto-Enrolment Specialists in Lowestoft, Suffolk
Your Guiding Light for Workplace Pensions
Auto-enrolment doesn’t stop once it’s set up. Every new starter, pay change and three-yearly re-enrolment comes with duties and deadlines. East Point keeps your workplace pension set up right and running right, in plain English, so you can get on with running your business.
- 27 years in pensions at Aviva
- Helping employers since 2014
- Free first consultation
Your Duties, Lit Up
- Day OneDuties start when your first member of staff does
- Within Six WeeksEnrol eligible staff and write to every worker
- Within Five MonthsDeclare compliance to The Pensions Regulator
- Every Pay PeriodAssess staff and pay contributions on time
- Every Three YearsRe-enrol and re-declare
Miss one and penalties start at £400. See Where Employers Slip
- 27 Yearsin pensions at Aviva before East Point
- Since 2014helping employers with auto-enrolment
- One Expertyou deal with Paul from first call to final check
- Freefirst consultation, with no obligation
Why It Matters
Auto-Enrolment Never Really Finishes
Setting up a scheme is the easy part. The duties run every pay period for as long as you employ people, and The Pensions Regulator checks. These are the places employers most often slip.
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New Starters Missed
Every worker must be assessed from their first day and told in writing how auto-enrolment applies to them, within six weeks.
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Contributions Paid Late
Money deducted from pay must reach the scheme by the date agreed with your provider, and never later than the 22nd of the following month (the 19th by cheque).
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Re-Enrolment Forgotten
Every three years you must re-enrol eligible staff who have left the scheme, then re-declare to the regulator. It’s easy to lose track of.
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Payroll Changes Break the Link
A new payroll system, bureau or accountant can quietly drop the settings that assess staff and send contributions.
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Opt-Outs Handled Wrongly
Staff can opt out, but only on their own initiative. Refunds have time limits, and encouraging anyone to opt out is against the law.
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Records Not Kept
The regulator can ask to see your records. Most must be kept for six years and opt-out notices for four.
The Cost of Getting It Wrong
In the year to March 2026, The Pensions Regulator issued 33,362 fixed penalty notices and 12,678 escalating penalty notices to employers.
- £400
- fixed penalty notice
- £50 to £10,000
- a day in escalating penalties, depending on how many staff you employ
- Arrears
- of any contributions that should have been paid
Services
Everything Auto-Enrolment, Handled With You
Choose the help you need, from a one-off health check to support whenever you need it. Every piece of work starts with a written plan built around your business and your payroll.
- New Employers
- Small Businesses
- Growing Teams
- Charities and Clubs
- Accountants and Bookkeepers
Compliance Health Check
A clear review of how your scheme is really running: assessments, contributions, opt-outs, records and deadlines. You get a written report and a fix list in order of priority.
Ask About a Health CheckRe-Enrolment and Re-Declaration
Every three years, we work out who must be re-enrolled, prepare the letters and complete your re-declaration with The Pensions Regulator, on time.
Ask About Re-EnrolmentPayroll and Provider Changes
Changing payroll software, bureau or pension provider? We map the data and the processes so contributions, opt-outs and records stay right through the switch.
Ask About a ChangeStaff Communications
Tailored letters, briefings and answers for your team, so staff understand their pension and your managers can answer questions with confidence.
Ask About CommunicationsSupport When You Need It
A menu of services to call on as questions come up: tricky contracts, salary sacrifice, TUPE transfers, or a letter from the regulator you weren’t expecting.
Ask About SupportFree Tools
Check Where You Stand
Two quick checks based on the rules from The Pensions Regulator. Your answers stay on this page unless you choose to send your result to Paul.
Answer all eight questions to see your result.
Your Result
Answer the Questions
Eight questions, about two minutes. Your score and a fix list appear here as soon as you’ve answered them all.
Check One Worker
Uses the 2026/27 earnings thresholds, which stay the same for 2027/28. Enter what they earn in one pay period.
Gross pay, including overtime, bonuses and commission.
This Worker Is
An Eligible Jobholder
You must enrol them automatically and pay employer contributions.
- Qualifying Earnings
- £1,480.00
- Employer, at Least 3%
- £44.40
- Total, at Least 8%
- £118.40
Minimums on qualifying earnings this pay period. Staff pay the rest of the total, including tax relief. Some schemes use a different pay basis; Paul can check yours.
| Lower Level of Qualifying Earnings | £520 |
|---|---|
| Earnings Trigger for Enrolment | £833 |
| Upper Level of Qualifying Earnings | £4,189 |
These checks are a guide to the law for employers, not advice on your own pension. For anything unusual, such as directors, agency staff or workers based abroad, ask Paul.
How It Works
Three Steps to Clear Waters
No jargon, no hard sell, and no surprises on cost. You’ll know exactly what needs doing before anything is agreed.
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A Free Consultation
Tell Paul where you are and what’s worrying you. By the end of one conversation you’ll know what needs doing, and what doesn’t.
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A Plan in Writing
You get a clear, step-by-step plan for your business, your payroll and your deadlines, with the cost agreed before any work starts.
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Set Right, Kept Right
We put the plan in place with you and your payroll team, then keep an eye on the dates that matter so re-enrolment never creeps up on you.
Paul Burgess
Director, East Point Pension Solutions
- Experience
- 27 years in pensions at Aviva
- Last Role There
- Auto-Enrolment Services Consultant, supporting advisers and employers
- East Point
- Set up in May 2014 to help employers directly
- Based
- Lowestoft, Suffolk, the most easterly town in the UK
- Company
- Registered in England and Wales, number 09058594
About Paul
27 Years Inside Pensions. Now on Your Side.
Paul Burgess spent 27 years in pensions at Aviva, most recently as an Auto-Enrolment Services Consultant helping advisers and employers bring auto-enrolment into their workplaces. In May 2014 he set up East Point Pension Solutions in Lowestoft to give employers that expertise directly.
He knows how pension providers work from the inside and what payroll teams face from the outside. That’s why his plans are practical, built around your payroll and written in plain English, and why you deal with him from your first call to your final check.
“I will guide you through this minefield.”
On the Horizon
Changes Worth Planning for Now
Workplace pensions keep moving. These are the changes most likely to affect what employers pay and how schemes run.
From April 2029
Salary Sacrifice Relief Capped
Under a 2026 Act, only the first £2,000 a year of pension contributions made through salary sacrifice will be free of National Insurance, from April 2029.
What to do now: If you use salary sacrifice, work out the extra cost for staff who sacrifice more than £2,000 a year, and plan how you’ll explain it.
Source: National Insurance Contributions (Employer Pensions Contributions) Act 2026
From 2030
Fewer, Larger Pension Providers
The Pension Schemes Act 2026 requires master trusts and group personal pensions to hold at least £25 billion in their main default fund from 2030, or be on a set path to it. Value for money ratings start in 2028.
What to do now: Ask your provider how it will meet the new rules, and check your scheme is still the right fit for your staff and payroll.
Source: Pension Schemes Act 2026
Date Not Yet Set
Auto-Enrolment From Age 18
A 2023 Act allows the starting age to drop from 22 to 18 and contributions to start from the first pound earned. No start date has been set, and the Pensions Commission makes its final report in 2027.
What to do now: Build the likely extra cost into longer-term budgets, so the change doesn’t arrive as a surprise.
Source: Pensions (Extension of Automatic Enrolment) Act 2023
Checked against GOV.UK and The Pensions Regulator in November 2026. Dates and details can change; Paul will tell you where things stand when you speak.
FAQs
Questions Employers Ask Paul
Something Not Covered Here?
Ask Paul directly. There’s no charge for a first conversation.
Call 01502 528580I only employ one or two people. Do I still have auto-enrolment duties?
Almost certainly. Your duties start on the day your first member of staff starts work, whatever the size of your business, and you must complete a declaration of compliance even if nobody needs enrolling.
The main exceptions are companies whose only staff are directors, where at most one director has an employment contract. Paul can confirm where you stand in one call.
What happens if we get auto-enrolment wrong?
The Pensions Regulator usually starts by telling you what to put right and by when. If that deadline is missed, it can issue a £400 fixed penalty, then escalating penalties of £50 to £10,000 a day depending on how many staff you employ.
You may also have to pay contributions that were missed. The sooner a problem is found, the easier it is to fix.
How often do we need to re-enrol staff?
Every three years. You pick a re-enrolment date in a six-month window around the third anniversary of your duties start date, put eligible staff who have left the scheme back in, and write to them.
Then you complete a re-declaration of compliance within five months of that anniversary, even if nobody needed re-enrolling.
Can you help us choose a workplace pension scheme?
Yes. We help you compare qualifying schemes on what matters to you as an employer: how well they work with your payroll, the charges your staff pay, the service and the support for your team.
We work with your business on its scheme. We don’t give personal financial advice to your employees, and we’ll point staff to free, impartial help if they want it.
Will you work with our payroll provider or accountant?
Yes. Most auto-enrolment problems sit in the gaps between payroll, the pension provider and the business. Paul works alongside your payroll team, bureau or accountant so the processes join up and nothing falls through.
We already have a scheme running. Do we still need help?
Not always. Many employers simply want to know everything is running correctly. A compliance health check tells you what’s working, what isn’t and what to fix first, so you can decide what help, if any, you need.
Do you only work with businesses in Suffolk?
No. East Point is based in Lowestoft and works with employers across Suffolk, Norfolk and the rest of the UK. Most of the work can be done by phone, video call and email.
What does it cost?
Your first consultation is free and there’s no obligation. After that, you choose the help you need and the cost is agreed with you before any work starts.
Free Consultation
Talk to Paul About Your Workplace Pension
Tell us a little about your business and Paul will get back to you personally. No obligation, and no jargon.
- Phone01502 528580
- Mobile07549 954689
- Emailpaul@eastpointpensionsolutions.co.uk
- Office6 Beeching Drive, Lowestoft, Suffolk NR32 4TB
Thank You. Your Message Is With Paul.
He’ll be in touch with you personally. If it’s urgent, call him on 01502 528580.
