Latest figures from The Pensions Regulator (tPR) indicate
that more than 5 million additional employees have been enrolled into an
employer’s pension scheme since automatic enrolment legislation came into
effect. Now that large and most
medium-sized organisations automatically enrol staff into a Workplace Pension
scheme, smaller employers are increasingly coming under pressure from existing
and particularly new employees who expect to benefit from pension
membership. This has led to us seeing an
increase in the number of requests from employers who say they want to bring
their staging date forward.
Other reasons for bringing the staging date forward are to
align the start of automatic enrolment with annual pay reviews; the company’s
new financial year; the flexible benefit scheme ‘window’; or simply a less busy
time of year that better suits the business.
Before embarking on this course, however, it is important
that both the company and the pension provider will have sufficient time to
prepare and can accommodate the reduced timescale. This is important because
once the employer informs tPR that it will be bringing the staging date forward
then it cannot be moved back. Earlier available staging dates are listed here.
What clients don’t always appreciate is that they could
launch and start their pension early on a voluntary basis (i.e. a ‘soft
launch’) and then automatically enrol remaining staff at their original staging
date.
The soft launch enables an employer to benefit from
considerable employee goodwill (if communicated effectively) as a result of
starting pension contributions early; defers the contribution cost for any
employees who do not join voluntarily at outset, and allows extra time for
automatic enrolment to be communicated to staff in advance of the staging date
so that it comes as no surprise to existing employees.
Business Development Consultant
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7893 3456
Email: contactus [@] broadstoneltd.co.uk
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