Last week we took you through the requirements of Auto Enrolment rules and what you need to do by staging date. This week we will take a brief look at the penalties for non-compliance of these new rules!

There are strict regulations preventing employers from using prohibited recruitment policies (such as favouring candidates who don’t join the pension scheme) or using incentives (such as cash) as an alternative to pension membership.

These practices are banned and carry heavy fines.

As an employer, you must:

–     Auto enrol and re-enrol eligible employees

–       Deduct payments

–       Register their pension scheme

–       Provide information to eligible and non-eligible job holders

–       Provide information to scheme provider

–       Process opt outs and make refunds

–       Keep appropriate records

And must not: 

–       Offer advice

–       Discourage employees from joining the scheme

–       Give job holders opt out forms

–       Use “prohibited recruitment conduct”

Penalties

There are harsh penalties for non-compliance. It starts with a formal warning, then a fixed penalty and could result in a daily penalty rate on a sliding scale based on the number of employees you have. You have been warned!

If you have any questions about Auto-Enrolment and the points discussed in this article, call us on 01279 654696 or email us at pay@www.harper-morris.co.uk

We look forward to hearing from you.