The Pensions Regulator’s latest compliance and enforcement bulletin shows the importance of all employers knowing how workplace pensions law applies to them and of acting in a timely manner to tell the regulator how they have complied with their legal duties.
More than 60,000 employers had completed automatic enrolment at the end of September, with a small minority failing to comply with their legal duties by their deadline. The majority of this non-compliance has been unintentional and the regulator has worked with these employers to put matters right.
Executive Director of Automatic Enrolment Charles Counsell is urging employers to allow time to understand how the law applies to them and avoid enforcement action:
“Employers can avoid triggering a Compliance Notice by following the clear step-by-step information we provide on our website. This includes completing a declaration of compliance within five months of the date their duties went live.
“My message to employers is get your plans in place early, meet the deadline to complete a declaration to let us know how you have met your duties. Don’t ignore workplace pensions and risk a fine.”
Between July and September this year the regulator issued:
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469 compliance notices
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85 unpaid contributions notices
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107 fixed penalty notices
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2 escalating penalty notices
Lessons from Tribunals:
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Where an appeal has been requested out of time and the regulator declines to carry out a review, the tribunal does not have jurisdiction to hear the request.
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Employers having difficulty completing the online declaration of compliance should contact the regulator as soon as possible to avoid missing their deadline.
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Not completing a declaration of compliance on time can lead to a fixed penalty.
The bulletin also reminds large employers who staged in 2012 / 2013 that they have automatic re-enrolment duties.
Press release
Full bulletin
© The Pensions Regulator
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