The Declaration of Compliance Process - Important?

Employers who pass their assigned staging date to commence the automatic enrolment process need to be aware that their responsibilities do not end once they have finished automatically enrolling their employees.

The regulatory body (the Pension’s Regulator http://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/) has a very specific mandate from central government to encourage employers to have an ongoing involvement and a visible engagement process after their automatic enrolment process has completed.

One specific arm of this mandate is the declaration of compliance process (DOC).

The DOC is a method by which the employer confirms that the scheme that it operates is fully compliant with the standards set out by the Pensions Regulatory body. Employers are required to complete this every three years, in tandem with their re-enrolment of those employees who were not automatically enrolled at the assigned date.

After the assigned date, there is a very small window for the employer to complete their DOC using the Pensions Regulator’s website and if the DOC is not completed in this time, then the regulatory body has jurisdiction to levy fines on defaulting employers.

An important part of this process is to educate employers as to the ongoing role of the Pensions Regulator, beyond the role that it plays in the run up to automatic enrolment.  The DOC remains an employer’s responsibility but it is the responsibility of every financial advisor to ensure that the employer is aware of what is required as part of this process and their ongoing role within it.

Robert Simmons

Corporate Pensions Administrator

Telephone: +44 (0)20 7893 3456
Email: contactus [@] broadstone.co.uk

The Importance of Good Employee Communication

With the changes in pension’s legislation, more employees than ever are being automatically enrolled into pension schemes with their respective employers.  Employees who are affected by this are often unaware of these changes and the potential benefits or implications of being involved in such a process.

There is a distinct knowledge gap between an employee’s idea of what their pension should be and the actual reality of the workplace pension that is offered. The engaged employer should be aware of this knowledge gap utilising many forms of media to engage with its employees.
Communications can take several forms from employee facing booklets to presentations made by product providers or financial planning consultants. With all of these methods it is important to keep in mind the three prime concerns of every employee: What do I have to contribute? What will I receive at my retirement? How much will I pay for this additional benefit?

Financial planning consultants can liaise with their clients to tailor the best delivery method to effectively engage with their employee demographic. Answering questions early and definitively provides a more stable grounding for employee engagement in the pensions process. There will always be issues which will be encountered over the employee’s time within the pension but the likelihood of the same queries and questions occurring can be decreased considerably by good employee communication and engagement.

Robert Simmons

Corporate Pensions Administrator

Telephone: +44 (0)20 7893 3456
Email: contactus [@] broadstone.co.uk