Small and micro employers look out for a letter from The Pensions Regulator

16 January 2015

Around 100,000 employers will receive letters in next three months telling them they have one year to go before their staging date.

The Pensions Regulator will be writing to all small and micro employers over the coming months to ensure they know when their new workplace pensions duties start.The letter will provide key information such as the date the law applies to them and the process through which they can provide a nominated contact to the regulator to receive regular, useful and relevant information in the run up to the date at which they need to comply with your duties.

The Pensions Regulator is calling on advisers to be ready to help their clients with automatic enrolment as research by the regulator has shown the majority of small businesses will be seeking help from their accountants and bookkeepers.

Have you already checked the dates that the law will apply to your clients? If not, click here to confirm when your client’s staging date is and get ahead of the curve.

Last year the regulator announced five million workers had been automatically enrolled by nearly 43,000 employers. In the coming months and years, around 4 million more workers will be automatically enrolled by small employers across the country. Small employers are those with fewer than 50 workers.

Later this month the regulator will be publishing the third in a series of quarterly bulletins showing the number of times it has used its powers. While the regulator takes an ‘educate and enable’ approach to ensuring compliance, deliberate or persistence failure is not acceptable. The regulator expects to see an increase in the use of powers – including issuing £400 fines – as the size and type of employer changes.

The Pension Regulator’s executive director of automatic enrolment, Charles Counsell said:

“Small businesses should leave 12 months to prepare – they may be more likely to leave things to the last minute – but doing this risks financial penalty. It is better to leave extra time than not enough.”

There is lots of information on the regulator’s website and it has recently been refreshed to make it easier for small employers to use. Listed below are also some useful links.