Ideas Portal
Description:
We’ve encountered recurring issues with API submissions to our pension provider (People’s Pension) failing due to negative values being submitted for Pensionable Earnings, Employer Contributions, and Employee Contributions. This issue arises particularly in months where a significant number of employees opt out after being re-enrolled, triggering pension refunds.
Currently, Staffology appears to record these refunds as negative figures, but People’s Pension API does not accept negative values, resulting in submission rejections.
Suggestion for Improvement:
Introduce a system-friendly method of handling pension refunds that complies with pension providers' API requirements. For example:
Process refunds as zeroed-out entries with a separate refund flag or transaction type.
Add a dedicated pension refund field that is recognised by the API but doesn't rely on negative values.
Allow users to configure how pension refunds are represented in API exports, depending on the pension provider.
Why This Matters:
Without a supported way to handle refunds, users must manually edit or exclude affected records, which is time-consuming and prone to error. An automated and compliant solution will reduce administrative burden and improve compatibility with major providers like People’s Pension.
Use Case Example:
This month, due to re-enrolment, we had a surge in opt-outs. The resulting refunds created negative entries in Staffology, which triggered API submission errors across multiple employees. We have to upload and edit the pension file manually.
