Following on from my last blog I want to ensure that all businesses are aware of the steps they need to take when it comes to auto enrolment.
According to Wealth Wizards an alarming 38 per cent of businesses are still not clued up on auto enrolment or likewise individuals are unaware that they are entitled to a workplace pension.
According to The Pensions Regulator, hundreds of thousands of the smallest companies are still lacking the awareness of what auto-enrolment entails, and don’t even know when their ‘staging date’ is.
Why automatic enrolment is being introduced
Everyone must be automatically enrolled into a workplace pension scheme into which they put part of their salary and their employer also makes a contribution.
Workplace pensions have been around for decades, but the big shift is that workers have now to opt out rather than in.
What do businesses need to do?
Automatic enrolment duties come into force for you from your ‘staging date’. You can find out your staging date by entering your PAYE reference into the Pension Regulator tool.
Communicating with workers
You’ll need to write to each member of staff individually to tell them how they’ve personally been affected by automatic enrolment.
The information you’ll need to tell them is different depending on their rights and the duties you have for them.
You must also provide certain information to the regulator about how you’ve complied with your duties.
The Pension Regulator have a great plan and ‘duties checker’ on their website for more information please visit here.