Frequently Asked Questions - NSP and MPS
The purpose of these Frequently Asked Questions is to provide information to Schools and Directorates on the revised processes and procedures relating to the engagement of workers through the Non Staff Payments System (NSP) and the Modified Payroll Scheme (MPS). Such processes and procedures have been recently amended to address the legislative requirements of auto-enrolment, further details of which are available on the Pensions website on: www.qub.ac.uk/directorates/FinanceDirectorate/Pensions. In addition, with effect from 1 April 2013, the University must fulfil new Real Time Information (RTI) obligations, as required by HMRC.
- What impact will auto-enrolment have on the NSP?
- What changes have been made to the NSP documentation?
- What are the revised processes and procedures relating to the NSP?
- What is the effective date for the new NSP arrangements?
- Can we continue to use the old NSP forms if they have already been issued to individuals?
- There is a new field on form NSP3b called “indicative amount to be paid”. What is this and what will it be used for?
- What if the individual is engaged by several Schools/Directorates?
- What is the impact of auto-enrolment on the Modified Payroll Scheme (MPS)?
- What changes are proposed to the MPS processes and procedures?
- What is the effective date for the new MPS arrangements?
- What happens if the individual does not return the relevant form before their first day of working at the University?
- What if the individual does not fully complete the forms?
1. What impact will auto-enrolment have on the NSP?
Under the requirements of auto-enrolment, it will be necessary to assess the workforce prior to taking any necessary action to ensure compliance with the legislation. This assessment will be undertaken by the Finance Directorate. In order to assess the workforce, the University requires certain information to be collected for each individual who is paid by the University. This information includes the following mandatory data:
- National Insurance (NI) number
- Full Name (Title, First Name, Preferred First Name, Surname)
- Gender
- Date of Birth
- Home Address (including post code)
The legislation also requires that the assessment occurs on the individual’s first day of working at the University. It is therefore imperative that the Salaries Office receive information (i.e. NSP3 Form) relating to all workers on, or immediately after, their first day of working at the University. In this respect new processes and procedures have been implemented, together with revised forms.
2. What changes have been made to the NSP documentation?
The documentation, associated with the engagement of NSP persons, has been significantly revised to address the new data requirements.
The main changes relate to:
- ·NSP1 – Provision of more extensive guidelines on the engagement and payment of non staff.
- ·NSP2 - A new form, to be completed by the payee to, capture bank and tax details.
- ·NSP3 – A new, double sided form, which has merged the previous ‘Personal Details’ and ‘Engagement for Services’ Forms.
The Request for Payment Form (NSP4) has not been changed.
The revised documents are available for download at the following address:
http://www.qub.ac.uk/directorates/FinanceDirectorate/Salaries/PoliciesandProcedures/
3. What are the revised processes and procedures relating to the NSP?
An outline of the revised processes for NSP is provided in the flowchart at the above web address. The key changes in the NSP processes are as follows:
(i) Before engagement, Forms NSP2 and NSP3 must be issued to the payee with their Contract for Services.
(ii) An envelope, addressed to the Salaries Office, must be included for the payee to return Form NSP2.
(iii) Payee must complete Form NSP3, side ‘a’, and return to the School/Directorate.
(iv) Upon receipt of Form NSP3a, the School/Directorate must ensure that all the data fields are complete. (If not, the form should be returned to the individual.)
(v) School/Directorate must fully complete Form NSP3, side ‘b’, and send to the Salaries Office for processing on the payee’s first working day at the University – not when payment is required.
4. What is the effective date for the new NSP arrangements?
These new arrangements are effective from 1 February 2013.
5. Can we continue to use the old NSP forms if they have already been issued to individuals?
The new NSP forms were uploaded to the website on 4 January 2013. The Salaries Office will continue to accept the old forms until 28 February 2013, however, from 1 March 2013 only the new forms will be accepted.
Any forms received which are incomplete, will be returned to the School/Directorate to obtain the necessary data. Schools/Directorates will have 10 working days to return the data to the Salaries Office.
From 1 March 2013, payment will not be made unless the required details are provided in the new forms.
6. There is a new field on form NSP3b called “indicative amount to be paid”. What is this and what will it be used for?
The indicative amount to be paid is an estimate of how much is expected to be paid to the individual over the academic year - it does not have to be the exact amount. It will used for internal reporting purposes.
7. What if the individual is engaged by several Schools/Directorates?
Each School and Directorate will be responsible for ensuring that the Contract for Services and the new forms are issued to every individual that they engage. They will also be responsible for ensuring that Form NSP3 is fully completed and sent to the Salaries Office in the timeframe stipulated.
Therefore, it is possible that an individual will receive the NSP forms more than once. However, the Salaries Office will collate the information, once received, via NSP3, and update the individual’s record by using their National Insurance number as a unique identifier.
8. What is the impact of auto-enrolment on the Modified Payroll Scheme (MPS)?
The MPS is a special exam scheme approved by HMRC, used solely to make payments to external examiners. Again, a new form has been developed to ensure that all relevant data is captured for every individual that is paid through MPS. This form can be obtained at the following web address:
http://www.qub.ac.uk/directorates/AcademicStudentAffairs/AcademicAffairs/ExternalExaminers
9. What changes are proposed to the MPS processes and procedures?
A more streamlined approach to the engagement of MPS persons has been agreed with relevant staff, within DASA, to ensure that:
- The Right to Work check is consistently applied.
- The payment is processed to coincide with the provision of a completed Personal Details Form.
- The correct timing of the processing of the payment is adhered to, such that the relevant documentation is completed on, or immediately after, the first day the individual commences work at the University.
10. What is the effective date for the new MPS arrangements?
These new arrangements are effective from 1 February 2013 and the Salaries Office will only accept the new form from that date.
Any forms received, which are incomplete, will be returned to the School/Directorate to obtain the necessary data. Schools/Directorates will have 10 working days to return the data to the Salaries Office.
11. What happens if the individual does not return the relevant form before their first day of working at the University?
Schools/Directorates will be expected to have mechanisms in place to ensure that individuals return the relevant form before their first day of working at the University.
The legislation states that the University must assess workers from their first day of employment. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the School/Directorate to ensure that the Salaries Office are informed of who is working at the University, and from what date.
12. What if the individual does not fully complete the forms?
It is the responsibility of the School/Directorate to obtain any missing information from the individual before submitting the forms to the Salaries Office. The Salaries Office will return any incomplete forms to the School/ Directorate, and there will be 10 working days to resubmit to the Salaries Office.
