Pension auto enrolment is looming fast for many companies in the next few years. The Pension Regulator is taking a health interest in what certain sectors are doing to meet the challenges and avoid non-compliance. Recently the Pensions Regulator http://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/ has visited firms in the recruitment sector. As a result of information gathered from the visits, the Regulator will be issuing compliance guidance tailored for the recruitment sector.
The Pension Regulator wants to ensure that organisations comply as well as wishing to establish a pro compliance culture. The regulator’s automatic enrolment compliance and enforcement team visited a number of recruitment employers where they were able to have an in-depth look at how these employers are implementing automatic enrolment.
The recruitment sector faces significant compliance challenges and the Pension Regulator decided it was particularly important to target because more than 1,000 recruitment employers are due to reach their staging date between April and July 2014.
The Pension Regulator is urging the industry to make sure their chosen pension scheme and software provider can meet their needs. Employers must start communicating with providers in good time and test payroll systems ensuring they allow enough time, before their staging date to address any complications. Employers must also plan how they will best communicate with workers and leave plenty time to accurately assess their workforce.
The Pensions Regulator recommends that employers should have providers and advisers in place at least six months before their staging date. The staging date is the date when an employer’s automatic enrolment duty is switched on.
Staging date information is available on the Pension Regulator website and employers can create their own individual plan from the the timeline. The Pension Regulator recommends that preparation is started 12-18 months before the staging date.