Letters marking 18 months until the first employers must automatically enrol staff into a workplace pension scheme have started landing in the in-trays of chief executives of the UK’s biggest employers.
The Pensions Regulator is writing to the UK’s biggest companies, alerting them to their new pension duties, which are introduced on a gradual or ‘staged’ basis according to employer size. The regulator is providing a 5-point checklist alongside with the notification letters, plus further information on its website.
In the next 6 months, nearly 600 of the largest organisations employing about a third of the UK workforce (around 10m employees) will have received letters marking 18 months to their particular duty date. In due course, every employer in the UK will have received at least two letters as they approach their duty date.
Bill Galvin, chief executive of The Pensions Regulator, said:
“Today we start in earnest our drive to help educate employers about what they must do to comply with workplace pensions reform. Our message is that we urge every employer to check the approximate date they must comply. The date will vary between October 2012 and February 2016, depending on employer size”.
It is important that employers start to understand the implications and how best to prepare, particularly those companies who will require external help to manage this process. It is estimated that 90% of businesses (Source: Association of Consulting Actuaries) will need to review their existing pension arrangements and seek professional advice.
