Employer managed NEST pension submissions

If you manage your own NEST pension submissions, this article will explain how you can now submit these directly through Cintra People, including enrolment, contributions, and payment authorisation.

1. Set up your credentials and assign payroll(s)

You can store your NEST credentials directly in Cintra People. You will only see Pension submissions if you have full access to at least one payroll.

If you are setting up the connection for the first time:

Go to Pension submissions.
In the banner, click the Connect button.
Enter your NEST username and password.
Enable NEST submission for the relevant payroll

If you are updating your credentials or adding further payrolls:

Go to: Payroll → Pension submissions → Settings → Connect to provider.
Select NEST.
Enter your NEST username and password.
Click Connect.
Navigate to the Manage Payrolls tab.

2. Setting submission data for each payroll

Complete the following for each payroll:

Field	What to do
Enable submission	Turn on
Start date	Enter the date submissions should begin from (earlier periods won’t appear)
End date	Leave blank unless you're stopping submissions
Managed by	Employer (this is the only supported option)

If you want to hand over submissions to a bureau, contact the bureau administrator via messaging.

3. Submit pension data

Go to: Payroll → Pension submissions
NEST-enabled payrolls with a closed period that are ready to submit will show as Due.
Check Total contributions against your payroll report to confirm the figures balance.
Select Submit from the Actions menu
- The status will change to Pending: Contributions can take up to 15 minutes and enrolments up to 45 minutes

Note: Cintra People submits enrolments, contributions, and authorises payment in NEST.

You can also submit multiple payrolls at once, if all the payrolls have a status of Due. To do this, tick all the boxes beside the payrolls, then at the top-right of the list, select Submit selected.

4. Submission statuses

Tab	Status	Meaning	What you can do
Action required	Due	Period closed and ready for submission	Submit Refresh contributions: Pull the latest contribution values before submitting. Mark as complete: Use only if submission via Cintra People is not possible (e.g. errors have been fixed on the Nest account rather than in Payroll). View data: Check what will be included.
Action required	Pending	Sent to NEST and awaiting a response	Check back after ~15 minutes (contributions) or ~45 minutes (enrolments). View data: See what was included in the submission.
Action required	Failed	Submission contains errors	View data: Review errors. Fix issues in Cintra iQ, then resubmit. Refresh contributions: Use if setup or values have changed since the failed submission. Mark as complete: Last resort only (e.g. manual submission or fix required in NEST).
History	Completed	Submission successful	No action needed. View data: Check what was included.

If you encounter any problems

See the FAQs and troubleshooting guide.

Current limitations

Limitation	Detail
Direct Debit only	Debit card and Direct Credit are not supported. Customers must use Direct Debit
NEST only	People's Pension API integration is not yet available
Monthly pay date only	Regardless of the periodicity of the payroll, the payment date for NEST can only be once a month

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