Posted December 3, 2015

Will Auto Enrolment Affect My Business?

In 2012, the law on workplace pensions changed, previously it was up to the individual to save for their retirement. Now every employer with an eligible worker must enrol them into a workplace pension.

It is called “automatic enrolment” because it is automatic for workers, it is not automatic for employers.

Regardless of whether you have full time, part time, temporary or casual workers, as an employer you must enrol them in a workplace pension if they:

Are not already in a suitable scheme;
Are between the ages of 22 and the State Pension age;
Earn more than £10,000 per year (tax year 2015/16)
Work in the UK.

However, you must give all of your workers the option to join a scheme even if they do not fall into the above criteria – it is their right.

If you employ an eligible worker, there are no exceptions, you must set up a scheme by your staging date and enrol your workers of face significant fines (and potentially a criminal record).

If you have a director only company (have no employment contracts) and don’t employ any workers, including on a subcontractor basis, you could be eligible for an exemption. You will need to apply for this exemption directly from the Pensions Regulator.

The Pensions Regulator has created this helpful video to assist employers with choosing a pension scheme:

We hope this information has been of use to you, if you would like to talk to someone about auto enrolment please contact us.

We are running a presentation to explain auto enrolment further on 15 January 2016 at 9.30am. If you would be interested in attending please email [email protected] to book your place.