Get Ready: Seamless Secondary Pensions Submissions for Guernsey and Alderney are Here!

We’re excited to announce the launch of our new secondary pensions functionality for Guernsey and Alderney. This game-changing feature allows you to manage pension schemes and submit Government returns directly through Offshore Payroll, all in line with the new mandatory secondary pensions legislation.
Clients Are Already Raving! One of our clients, who’s has recently onboarded to Offshore Payroll, told us: “Wow… this is a thousand times better than our current process!”
We’re thrilled to see such great feedback and can’t wait for you to experience the same ease and efficiency.
What You Need to Know
To ensure a smooth transition, we’ve outlined the key fields you’ll need to update for your Guernsey and Alderney employees using our effortless imports function:
- Date of Birth
This will now be mandatory for all employee records as it is required in the new secondary pensions returns.
- Occupation Code
You’ll need to add a 4-digit occupation code for each employee to meet the new Government reporting requirements. Check out the link for more details: https://www.gov.gg/ocodes
- Opted Out Until Date
If an employee opts out of the pension scheme, you’ll need to provide an “opted out until” date, which will be submitted as part of the Government return. More details are available on https://www.gov.gg/Secondary-Pensions
- Deferred Until Date
While this field isn’t part of the official return, it’s handy for keeping track of deferral periods. See more information on deferred enrolment [https://www.gov.gg/article/198147/SP1—Notices-of-Enrolment-and-employers-obligations]
- In Full-Time Education
A simple tick box will let you mark employees in full-time education, and this will be included in your pension return.
Be Fully Prepared with Our User Guide
To help you get up to speed, we’ve created a comprehensive suite of user guides with all the steps you need to take for a seamless transition to secondary pensions.
We’re committed to making your payroll process as easy as possible!
September 19, 2024
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Combined Employer Return (CER) and changes to the 8 hour rule
From January 2022, the Jersey 8 hour rule will be replaced with a financial limit. This limit will be equivalent to 8 hours at the minimum wage that is in place at the start of the year.
For weekly paid employees there will be a weekly threshold based on 8 hours per week at the minimum wage. The employer will need to determine, each week, if the employee has reached that threshold and deduct contributions accordingly.
It is possible that an employee may exceed the threshold in some weeks during a month and not others. The Combined Employer Return (due January 2022) will require the earnings for the entire month to be declared for tax purposes but for contributions purposes only the earnings for the weeks where contributions have been deducted should be reported.
For monthly paid employees earnings will only need to be declared for social security purposes where the monthly threshold is reached.

Meet our Team – Julie Heaven
Julie brings a wealth of financial expertise and over two decades of experience to our team. Qualifying as a Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA) in 2000, she has held several senior financial management roles throughout her career, including her most recent position as Director of Purpose. In this role, she provides strategic financial guidance to owner-managed companies, helping them navigate complex financial landscapes and achieve sustainable growth.

2023 Updates for Jersey & Guernsey
There are some important changes for Jersey and Guernsey will come into effect from the 1st of January 2023, luckily for Offshore Payroll clients we’ve had these in place since early December and our databases have been automatically updated.
Jersey will see an end to the temporary reduction in Social Security contributions and a percentage rise from 4% to 6% for employee contributions from January 1st 2023.
There have also been annual updates to Guernsey and Jersey tax and social security thresholds, more details of these annual changes can be found by using the following links:
Click here for more information on 2023 Jersey Tax rates, allowances and reliefs
Click here for more information on 2023 Guernsey Tax rates, allowances and reliefs
If you’re considering a change in 2023 and are looking for a new Payroll software provider, then reach out and speak with a member of the team by using this link.
“a modern and progressive payroll package”
Submitting the CER at the click of the button is brilliant!!! My manager could not believe it, no more manual calculations.
Running Jersey payroll is now faster, it generates various payroll reports that we find helpful. I would happily recommend.
Mumba Chomba – Management Accountant

