Auto-Enrolment - an Employer's Guide

Jul 19, 2010

During the four years commencing 1 October 2012, the process of UK employers having to automatically enrol employees into a qualifying pension scheme will commence.  A brief summary of this process was given in the BBS briefing notes 47, 58 and 59, the latter of which covered the National Employment Savings Trust (NEST).

BBS has produced “An Employer's Guide to the New Pension Rules” to assist employers in their understanding of the inherent complexities of the proposed changes.  Forward planning by companies will be essential to ensure that these significant changes are successfully managed into the business from both the financial and HR viewpoints.

The Guide has been written based on legislation passed prior to the general election.  Although it appears that the concept of Automatic Enrolment is here to stay, the Government has set up an independent review panel to look at certain aspects of the proposed changes.  The Pensions Minister, Steve Webb has said that the Coalition Government will go ahead with NEST if the independent review panel concludes that the current structure is fit for purpose.  He commented: “It’s an open review - if they come back and say NEST is the answer we’ll go with it, if they come back and say there’s a better way, we’ll go with that.”  He added: “In terms of any primary legislation, we’ll have a Pensions Act next year, which will mainly be thinking about what we have to do on state pension age 66 and the earnings link and so on, but I suspect that would be an opportunity to do any other things we needed to do".

Whatever changes may occur, it is our intention to update the Employer's Guide for the benefit of our clients, and employers generally.

We believe that the Guide will be very useful to all employers and you can download it from the factsheets area of our website.