Do you know enough?

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Everyone’s talking about auto-enrolment, pensions and staging dates. But do you know enough about how these thing are going to affect you and your business?

We’re starting to live for longer, which means there are an increase in the number of pensioners. Therefore the Pensions Acts 2007 and 2008, are making changes to introduce new employer duties for making pensions available for their employees.

Since 2012 this legislation has been implemented, and firstly focused on big companies who had over 250 employees. But now the dates for fewer employees are getting closer, and it’s going to have a significant impact on every employer in the UK – so you need to make sure you’re ready.

As an employer, it is your responsibility and  you have many duties including:

  • Providing a Qualifying Workplace Pension Scheme;
  • Registering the scheme with The Pension Regulator at your staging date;
  • Assess and notify all employees of their rights and whether they are ‘eligible jobholders’ or not;
  • Automatically enrol all eligible employees;
  • Pay pension contributions for all employees;
  • Keep records of all actions taken and documents issued
  • You cannot discourage membership to new or existing employees;
  • The Pensions Regulator will police and enforce this new legislation.

If you aren’t sure on when your staging date is, you can obtain it by  calling IFS Employee Benefits on 0808 100 1613 – you will need your PAYE reference number to hand.

So, what do you need to do? You need to plan ahead, so start now.

You might already have a workplace pension scheme that will qualify, or that could be upgraded to make it qualify, then you can use at your staging date. Or if you don’t have a pension scheme that will qualify, or if you don’t have one at all, you will need to arrange a Qualifying Workplace Pension Scheme through a pension provider.

As you can expect, if you are an employer who fail to comply, there are penalties which include a warning, a £400 fixed penalty and then an extra £500 per day after your staging date.

There’s a debate about whether pensions are good or bad, but research has proven that employers who offer Pensions, are seen as offering the best employee benefits. It’s seen as supporting and preparing your employees for their retirement and it can also help to assist in the recruitment and retention of high quality employees. By having a pension scheme, it makes your business stand out from the crowd – so it’s never too early to set one up!

If you need support or more information regarding auto-enrolment, then please contact us today on 01909 512 120.

Don’t forget to visit our Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/company/loftus-stowe-ltd and Twitter https://twitter.com/loftusstowe!