How is it being implemented?

Auto enrolment was initially phased in over a period of about five-and-a-half years, starting with the country’s largest employers in October 2012 and ending with the smallest in February 2018. During this period, the date by which individual employers were expected to have met their statutory auto enrolment obligations was called the ‘staging date’; the actual date being set using a list profiling the number of workers in the employer’s PAYE scheme.

That, of course, has changed. Existing employers have implemented the requirements, created pension schemes, enrolled their staff and are now fulfilling their legal duties. It is new organizations, first-time employers, that have to get to grips with what they need to do.

As has been said, automatic enrolment is only ‘automatic’ for employees: it is most certainly not automatic for employers. Although it’s a simple concept, it may be a time consuming and expensive exercise for many employers, both to set up and then administer on a long-term basis. In fact, auto enrolment could bring some organizations a long list of ‘actions’, many of which are ongoing and will need regular attention.

As an employer you need to know exactly what you will have to do and plan how you’re going to do it as implementing auto enrolment may take much longer than you think.

The Pensions Regulator (TPR) is the public body that protects workplace pensions in the UK, working with employers and those running pensions schemes ‘so that people can save safely for their later years’. As an organization, The Pensions Regulator is responsible for, amongst other things, monitoring auto enrolment, its regulation and legal enforcement.

It’s important that you fully understand what your duties are, so the first thing you should do is visit the automatic enrolment section on The Pensions Regulator’s website which sets out everything you need to know in an easy-to-understand way.

Although there’s a huge amount of documentation attached to The Pension Regulators website, for example the various ‘detailed guidance notes’, initially, what you need to know is whether your staff qualify for auto enrolment and, depending on the outcome, what you must then do.
 

How can One Financial Solutions help you?

One Financial Solutions is here to help you. We can help you plan and implement everything necessary to ensure you comply with the new legislation and fulfil your legal obligations.

If you already have a workplace pension scheme, we’ll review it to make sure it can be used and will recommend any changes that may be needed. If you need a new scheme, we’ll find one for you and, as a truly independent firm of financial advisers, we’ll make sure the scheme we recommend is selected from the entire market and is the one that is best for both you and your staff.

More than that, if you’d like us to administer the entire scheme for you, we can do that too.

So, if you’re looking for specific help about auto enrolment or just want advice on the subject, please call us on 020 3714 9565 or ask us to call you by sending an email to admin@onefinancialsolutions.co.uk.