The Department for Work and Pensions (“DWP”) yesterday (25 January 2012) published a revised timetable for when employers of all sizes must start enrolling their staff in a workplace pension. The changes largely affect employers with less than 250 or less employees, who are being given slightly more time in which to prepare for auto-enrolment. The introduction of auto-enrolment for employers with more than 250 employees, is unaltered from the timetable that was originally published.
Automatic enrolment will begin in October 2012. All existing firms will have enrolled their staff by April 2017, followed by all new employers by February 2018. Key parts of the revised timetable are set out in the table below:
|
Employer size (by PAYE scheme size) |
Automatic Enrolment start date |
|
|
|
From |
To |
|
250 or more members |
1 October 2012 |
1 February 2014 |
|
50 to 249 members |
1 April 2014 |
1 April 2015 |
|
Test tranche for less than 30 members |
1 June 2015 |
30 June 2015 |
|
30 to 49 members |
1 August 2015 |
1 October 2015 |
|
Less than 30 members |
1 January 2016 |
1 April 2017 |
|
Employers without PAYE schemes |
1 April 2017 |
- - - |
What should you do to prepare for auto-enrolment?
- Consider whether you are likely to be able to meet the deadlines, duties, obligations and logistical challenges involved in auto-enrolment.
- Ensure that your human resources, payroll, IT
and other departments are aware of auto-enrolment and are making
preparations by:
-
checking who is an eligible jobholder;
-
deciding whether to use their existing pension scheme, NEST or a combination of both;
-
ensuring that, if you choose to make use of your existing pension scheme, it will meet the
-
statutory tests that will allow for it to be used; and
-
budgeting for any additional costs of the pension contributions the business may have to make.
-
- Seeking advice on whether your existing occupational pension will qualify as a scheme that can be used under the auto-enrolment regulations.
Hill Dickinson has a wealth of experience in dealing with the full
range of employment and pensions issues. If you have any queries
relating to the above, or any other legal matter, please do not
hesitate to contact us
for advice.
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