PENSIONS AUTO ENROLMENT BEGINS BUT NOT FOR OUR CLIENTS

Pensions Auto Enrolment Starts for the Biggest Employers

The 1st October 2012 sees the start of the implementation of changes to the Pensions Act 2008 and 2011, which requires all employers to automatically enrol eligible employees into a workplace pension scheme and to make contributions into that scheme.

At 1st October 2012 it is extremely unlikely that you will be required to act immediately as only those employers with 120,000 or more employees are obliged to have auto enrolment in place.

 The duty to auto-enrol employees into a workplace pension scheme is to take place at different ‘staging dates’, dependant on the size of the employers PAYE scheme, over the next few years. Small businesses are not required to have an automatic enrolment scheme in place until at least 2015.

 The legislation sets a minimum percentage that must to be contributed in total (i.e. the worker’s contribution, the employer’s contribution and the 1% tax relief) and this minimum will increase gradually between 1 October 2012 and 1 October 2018.

 Further information is also available from the Pensions Regulator at https://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/automatic-enrolment.aspx