SmartTech - Useful Information and Resources for Employers

Introduction 

This article offers information and key facts about SmartTech such as payment terms, alerts List, payroll Information, processing of applications and Eligibility File.  Links are provided to other important resources related to SmartTech. Information contained in this article is useful for client.

Repayment Periods and Scheme Limits

• The repayment period options for SmartTech are 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 18, 24, 36 and 48 months. You can choose one or more of these options, all of which will be presented to the employee to select from.
• You can set different spend allowances for different employees, to ensure orders remain affordable.
• You can define a minimum order amount for each application.
• You can set a limit for the number of orders each employee is paying back at any given time. Employees who reach it will not be able to order again until they have repaid at least one previous application in full.

Processing Applications - Pre or Post Approval

• Pre-approval - you will need to supply additional information in your eligibility file to allow our system to perform eligibility checks. If you have a Direct Debit set up with RG, employees will be able to receive their voucher instantly after placing their order.

• Post-approval - an administrator will need to manually review applications. If you have a Direct Debit set up, employees will receive their vouchers instantly after approval; otherwise, vouchers will be dispatched once we have received payment for the window’s orders.

   

Payment Terms

• We recommend setting up a Direct Debit, so payments to RG are automated, and we can dispatch vouchers instantly (on pre-approval).
• If you choose not to set up a Direct Debit, we will invoice you at the end of each window, and dispatch all vouchers after receiving payment. 

SmartPay Authorisation  

• Master Approver - can access payroll information, application details, and product configuration settings for all benefits set up on SmartPay. 
• Payroll Approver - can access all payrolls set up on SmartPay. 

• Product Approver - can manage SmartTech configuration settings.

   

Payroll Information 

For each we will need:

• Name (e.g. John Smith) - required to assign users to the correct payrolls.
• Frequency (weekly, fortnightly, four weekly, monthly).
• Pay Day to set up in the system (i.e. date employees are paid).
• Cut-off Date (i.e. date the first deduction report will be available).
• Approver - one or more users to manage applications in each payroll.
• Who will manage your SmartTech program on SmartPay?

Additional Information for Your Eligibility File 

• Payroll name - required for each employee. 
• Date of birth - required on Pre-Approval (if not provided, the system will assume the employee is over 18 and auto-approve their application). 
• SmartPay Limit - only required if you are setting a maximum allowance for the total amount of each employee’s RG benefit applications e.g. Cycle to Work and SmartTech. 
• SmartTech Limit - only required if you are setting a maximum allowance for each employee’s SmartTech orders. 

Default Terms and Conditions

Our default Terms & Conditions.pdf should be reviewed and approved by your own legal advisors.

They can be amended or replaced via Reward Manager. 

Alerts List

Employee Communications alerts are an extremely valuable comms channel that saves employees the time to personally find out everything communications related that is happening on the platform that affects them. 

We deliver onsite, email, browser and mobile alerts so that employees never miss out on important updates.  

Click here to learn more about this process.

System Emails

This article sets out all the automated emails that are sent to employees via the SmartTech system, dependent on their interaction with the SmartTech benefit. 

Net Salary deduction vs Salary Sacrifice Benefit

Reward Gateway's employee technology benefit SmartTech can be run as either:

1. A net salary deduction benefit (i.e. employers loan employees money to make technology and whitegoods purchases, and the employee repays the loan via net salary deductions); or
2. A salary sacrifice benefit (as above, but repayments are taken from the employees' gross salary,  as the rules in this area can be complex, we would always recommend taking professional advice)

Which Option is Best?  

Whether the client should run their SmartTech programme as a net salary deduction benefit, or a salary sacrifice benefit, depends on a variety of factors, and clients should always seek professional tax advice to determine the best option for their organization.