Sovereign’s Your Island Pension (YIP) is up and running in Guernsey
Sovereign Pension Services (CI) Ltd was selected by the government of Guernsey to set up and manage its new Secondary Pension auto-enrolment style scheme – Your Island Pension (YIP).
YIP is a default pension scheme, backed by the Guernsey government, to ensure that all Guernsey employers have access to suitable, low-charge pension provision to meet their new duty to enrol all eligible workers into a workplace pension automatically.
YIP was launched on a voluntary basis in January this year and, although the mandatory effective date under the Secondary Pensions Law does not come into force until July, there has been significant interest in the first few months.
YIP already has around 50 Guernsey and Alderney-based employers that have applied to join and many of these have decided to start auto-enrolment ahead of their mandatory date. The total membership number from the 50 applicants is expected to be more than 500 employees and the average number of applications has been steadily increasing week-on-week.
“There is now less than three months until the July 2024 mandatory date and we expect the volumes will continue to increase in that period, with further implementation dates for smaller businesses in October 2024 and January 2025 likely to be similarly busy,” said Sean Gillease, Managing Director of Sovereign Pension Services (CI).
YIP has been developed to provide a one-size-fits-all solution to Guernsey and Alderney employers to allow them to meet their legal duties under the Secondary Pensions Law. YIP does not charge any employer fees and so is accessible to all businesses irrespective of size or sector.
“We are really pleased with how things have started, but we are also very aware that there will be a lot of work over the next 12 to 18 months,” said Gillease. “This six-month voluntary period has allowed us to finesse our processes and get invaluable feedback from a small cohort of employers to ensure that the user experience is as positive and, most importantly, as easy as possible for all employers and employees.”
