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Automatic enrolment

The challenge for employers

From October 2012, the Government is phasing in a new duty on all employers to automatically enrol eligible workers into a qualifying pension scheme and pay minimum employer contributions, starting with the largest employers. Employers will also be required to provide information to workers about their new rights and to re-enrol eligible workers who opt out approximately every three years. Those failing to comply with the new duty risk fines, as well as criminal sanctions including imprisonment.

How we can help

Automatic enrolment can bring considerable compliance costs, including the cost of pension contributions, worker communication, extra administration and updating IT systems. It will typically involve HR, pensions, payroll and IT as a minimum. Our pensions and employment law team has practical experience advising on auto-enrolment, including:

  • is an existing pension scheme compliant?
  • which workers are eligible?
  • can employers operate a "waiting period"?
  • what information must be given to workers?
  • how to prepare for automatic enrolment?

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