The Pension Reform Act (PRA) 2014 mandates employers of labour in the private and public sector (except for the few exempted ones) to join the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) where they have 3 or more employees. This is covered in Section 2 of the PRA 2014.
The CPS is not compulsory for employers with less than 3 employees and the self-employed. In their case, they are entitled to join the non-compulsory Micro Pension Plan in order to enjoy the benefits of the CPS according to S2(3) of the PRA 2014.
Consequently, in order to comply with this regulation, employers in the above categories will have to contribute and also remit monthly pension contributions on behalf of their workers or employees.
Accordingly, employers under the compulsory CPS are mandated to contribute a minimum of 10% of the employee’s monthly emoluments usually made up of the Basic salary, Housing and Transportation Allowances (BHT).
Employees are also mandated to contribute 8% of their BHT as well, afterall it is called a Contributory Pension Scheme for a reason. A higher contribution rates can also be agreed upon by the two parties as long as it is approved by the National Pension Commission (PenCom).
Also, for those in the MPP, their contribution is not based upon any predetermined rates, rather it is by their capacity to contribute. They are allowed to contribute daily, weekly, monthly or as they deem fit and convenient.
THE PENSION CONTRIBUTION PROCESS
First things first. The CPS requires both the employer and employee to perform some tasks in order to complete the pension contribution process.
In this piece, we will be focusing only on the employers and their roles.
For the employer, it is required that they register with the National Pension Commission (PenCom) what is known as the Employer Code (EC).
The EC is a unique code attributed to each employer registered under the CPS.
This is the code that will be tied to all the employers dealing within the pension industry.
Also, all employees working for the employer will be referenced with this unique code.
Therefore, to make pension contribution remittance, an employer must have an EC to which it’s workers and the contribution will be applied to otherwise such remittance will not be possible.
REGISTERING FOR AN EMPLOYER CODE
To get an EC, the employer will approach a PFA and provide the following information and documents:
- Copy of the CAC registration certificate
- TIN document
- A letter addressed to PenCom (on the company’s letterhead) applying for the code.
The above list will be required to get an employer code from PenCom with which to remit pension contributions for the employees of the organisation. The EC will also be used to
For more guidance on how to get an Employer Code (EC) and remit pension contributions of employees especially for new employers just joining the CPS or existing ones that want to remit their employees’ contributions, you can click here to talk to a pension expert.
