Hundreds of thousands of small employers will need to meet their pension duties in 2017 and so The Pensions Regulator has refreshed and updated their website with new auto-enrolment guidance and re-enrolment guidance to make it simpler for employers to understand their duties. They have made choosing a pension scheme for staff easier with the addition of new information and guidance to help you choose a pension scheme, by listing all schemes available to small employers, prompts to consider tax relief, set-up and ongoing costs, as well as payroll compatibility. It also provides information on how to find an adviser for further help in choosing a scheme should you need it. CLICK HERE for the list of available pension schemes.
The new auto-enrolment guidance also has new essential guidance for larger employers due to begin re-enrolment which covers everything they need to know, from choosing a re-enrolment date to completing the re-declaration of compliance. There are also webinars with details about who needs to be put back in the scheme, and by when.
Employers need to comply with their duties under auto-enrolment – it’s the law. If an employer chooses to ignore their duties they will face enforcement action which can include fines and prosecution. There are more details on The Pension Regulator’s website on what to do if you are in breach of your duties and what enforcement you could expect. Their policy is to make good the contributions by backdating them from when they should have started.
Please visit The Pensions Regulator website for all the information you need.
From April 2018, employers will need to make arrangements to ensure they increase the legal minimum contributions rate to 5%, of which the employer’s minimum increases to 2%. They increase again in April 2019 when the rates go up to 8%, of which the employer’s minimum will be 3%.
