14 September 2017
Don’t forget you’ll have automatic enrolment duties
All employers have automatic enrolment duties, regardless of when they become an employer or how many staff they have. And from October 2017, new employers will have AE duties from the day they take on their first member of staff. Make sure you know what to do and by when.
The Pensions Regulator is responsible for ensuring that all employers comply with workplace pension law – they have guidance and support to help you.
Automatic enrolment – make sure you comply on time. Don’t risk a fine
If The Pensions Regulator has written to you to tell you that your staging date is approaching and you still haven’t done anything – you still have time. Take 5 minutes to complete TPR’s duties checker to find out what tasks you need to complete.
As part of your duties, you’ll need to tell TPR what you’ve done by a specific date. This is called a declaration of compliance. Make sure you know when your declaration deadline is as failing to complete and submit one on time means you haven’t met all of your AE duties which could result in enforcement action. TPR has a declaration of compliance checklist to help you.
Automatic enrolment is an ongoing process – it does not end on your staging date
The Pensions Regulator has published results of some research they carried out on how employers are meeting their ongoing automatic enrolment duties. The analysis shows that this is business as usual for employers, and that it’s less complicated than they thought – with most micro employers spending just half and hour a month.
Automatic enrolment is a continuing responsibility for employers which does not end after their staging date. You will need to pay regular contributions into the pension, monitor the age and earnings of your staff and enrol eligible staff, process any requests to join or leave the scheme, and keep and maintain accurate records. You’ll also need to re-enrol eligible staff into an automatic enrolment pension scheme every three years.
TPR has information and guidance to help you understand your ongoing duties.
Did you automatically enrol your staff in the summer of 2014?
Part of an employer’s ongoing duties is the requirements to re-enrol every three years. This is when you need to assess all your staff who either opted out of their workplace pension scheme or have ceased to become members, re-enrol them if they meet certain criteria, write to them to tell them what you’ve done – and then re-declare your compliance to The Pensions Regulator to let them know what you’ve done to meet your re-enrolment duties.
More than 80,000 employers are coming up to their re-declaration of compliance deadline over the summer months. Make sure you complete and submit your re-declaration on time or you run the risk of a fine.
The Pensions Regulator has an Essential Guide to Re-enrolment to help you.
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