Auto Enrolment
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ou may or may not be aware that the law on workplace pension schemes has changed and the Automatic-Enrolment scheme, with which all employers must comply, is currently being rolled out across the UK. This is a new piece of legislation which requires all employers to have a workplace pension scheme in place for their employees, even if it is just one employee, which will automatically enrol all employees into the scheme.
Our view is this is a positive change
Your Responsibility
The Pensions Regulator is leaving the responsibility firmly on the employer to familiarise themselves with the new laws and to understand their responsibilities, requirements, key dates and deadlines.
From an employer’s point of view, it may not be a welcome change to have to start, or increase contributions to employees’ pension plans, however, the key message about this is that it is compulsory, it is already underway, there is no way to get around it and there are heavy penalties for non-compliance.
Our Advice
Our view is that this is a positive change. The cost to the employer is not as significant as might first be expected and that there will be great benefits for those employers who embrace the new legislation and prepare themselves properly in advance. Conversely, any attempt to avoid dealing with the new legislation will result in severe problems further down the road.
The key message is that it is compulsory
The result for most employers is that, as a minimum you will have to either get your existing Employer Pension Scheme looked at by a professional advisor to ensure that it is Auto-Enrolment compliant or, if you don’t already have an Employer Pension Scheme you will have to open one up in good time for your staging date.
