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Section 13A contributions: what 'doing enough' looks like in the board pack

A board-pack checklist for contribution oversight under s13A and Conduct Standard 1 — education, not a liability scare.

Legislation · ~9 min · Education only

What s13A and Conduct Standard 1 ask boards to see

Regulation 33 no longer runs that show. It was repealed with effect from 20 February 2023. The working surface now is Conduct Standard 1 — statement fields, monitoring-person reports, member and Authority notifications, late-payment interest at prime plus 2% (compound), and the minimums when recovery is outsourced.

This piece is a board-pack checklist. It is education for people who sit with the pack, not a prediction of personal liability or a criminal scare. Where the consolidated Act’s penalty or controlling-person wording matters for a live fund, open the Act with counsel — we do not invent that text here.

Payment timing, contribution statements, and who monitors

Employers must pay member deductions and employer contributions in full. The Act architecture, carried into CS1 reporting, still centres on getting contributions into the fund (or the permitted insurer path) not later than seven days after month-end.

CS1 sets minimum contribution-statement fields and requires an annual employer notification of s13A / CS1 duties. Receipt and data checks are reported to the principal officer or monitoring person. Boards should know who that monitoring person is and where the trail lives — a verbal assurance is not a paper trail.

CS1 also carries a de minimis reconciliation carve-out (under 2.5% of total contribution) for certain reporting triggers. That is a reporting design detail, not permission to ignore material arrears.

Escalation clocks: board → members → Authority → (if prolonged) SAPS trail

When non-compliance is unresolved, the principal officer or monitoring person reports to the board within seven days of the internal receipt report. Material contraventions then require member notification and Authority reporting within 30 days of the board being informed — using RF Notice 8 formats where prescribed.

If material non-compliance with the payment or statement duties continued past 90 days, CS1 requires a SAPS report and member notification within a further 14 days after that 90-day period. Document the trail. Do not turn the pack into scare copy, and do not name alleged defaulters as fact beyond the FSCA arrear list.

Late-payment interest and outsourced recovery — pack evidence

Late unpaid amounts attract compound interest at prime plus 2% under CS1. Boards should see calculation, billing, ageing, and treatment as fund investment income — not a footnote nobody reads.

If recovery is outsourced, the pack should show board resolution, conflict check, fee reasonableness, and CS1 paragraph 6 agreement minimums (including seven-business-day remittance into the fund bank account). Outsourcing does not outsource the board’s oversight duty.

The FSCA publishes arrear employer and fund lists. Use them as external colour. They are not a substitute for the fund’s own reconciliations, and absence from a list is not a clean bill of health.

Checklist — contribution papers before the meeting

• For each participating employer: payment date against the “seven days after month-end” window, plus any reconciliation variance (note CS1’s <2.5% carve-out for certain reporting triggers).
• Contribution statement received with CS1-required fields; employer contact / person identified under s13A(8) on file.
• Monitoring person / principal officer escalation to the board within seven days of the internal receipt report — memo in the pack.
• For material contraventions: member notification and Authority reporting within 30 days, using RF Notice 8 formats where prescribed.
• If material non-compliance continued past 90 days: SAPS / member follow-up trail within the further 14 days documented.
• Late-payment interest (prime + 2%, compound) calculated, billed, aged, and treated as fund investment income.
• If recovery is outsourced: board resolution, conflict check, fee reasonableness note, CS1 para 6 agreement minimums (including seven-business-day remittance).
• Annual employer notification of s13A/CS1 duties done; latest FSCA arrear employers list used as external colour, not complacency.

Questions to table (and what to send to counsel)

• Whose name sits as monitoring person under s13A, and when did they last report unresolved exceptions to the board?
• For each material arrear: which CS1 clock is running, and is the RF Notice 8 format on file?
• Is late-payment interest being calculated at prime + 2% compound and booked as fund investment income?
• If recovery is outsourced, where is the conflict check and seven-business-day remittance clause?
• Ask counsel / check the consolidated Pension Funds Act: personal-liability and offence wording for controlling persons — unverified here; we do not invent penalty schedules.