Since October 2012 all businesses with at least one employee are legally obliged to:
- Set up and register a Qualifying Workplace Penson scheme suitable for automatic enrolment
- Assess your workforce and automatically enrol those workers aged 22 and earn £192 a week into the pension scheme
- Arrange membership of a pension scheme for certain other workers
- Make contributions for automatically enrolled workers and certain other workers
- Manage the automatic enrolment, joining and opt out processes
- Issue and document communications to workers in respect of their assessment status
- Provide specific information to workers, pension scheme providers and The Pensions Regulator (TPR)
- Keep records of how you have fulfilled and continue to fulfil your duties.
The assessment is an ongoing process. Workers who do not meet the criteria when they first commence work may do at a later point. It is an employer’s duty to identify those workers each pay date.
There are several factors that may lead to greater complexity in the Auto-Enrolment process. Consider if the following factors relate to your business:
- High staff turnover
- Little or no existing pension plan
- Fluctuating revenue
- Staff on zero hours contracts
- Low paid staff with fluctuating earnings
- Internationally mobile staff
- Workers whose employment status is not clear
- Where other benefits are based on being a member of a pension scheme.
Should you have any queries or would like further advice about meeting your Auto-Enrolment obligations, do not hesitate to contact Ashley Bellis or our other Auto-Enrolment specialists to the right of this page.
