4th February 2016

The Pension Regulator:AE Industry Liaison Manager update- February 2016

• Current consultations

i)              As part of a government-wide programme, The Pensions Regulator is consulting on its draft Innovation Plan which sets out how it will embrace technology and support innovation to help deliver better outcomes for retirement savers at: www.tpr.gov.uk/docs/innovation-plan-consultation-document.pdf

Closing date for responses is 12 February 2016.

ii)             DWP have published a consultation on banning member borne commission charges in occupational schemes at: www.gov.uk/government/consultations/banning-member-borne-commission-in-occupational-pension-schemes-government-response-and-consultation-on-draft-regulations

Closing date for responses is 9 February 2016.

iii)            DWP have published their consultation on some proposed technical changes intended to simplify the automatic enrolment process and reduce burdens on employers at: www.gov.uk/government/consultations/automatic-enrolment-technical-changes

Closing date for responses is 16 February 2016.

•       Our latest compliance and enforcement bulletin

More than 90% of the first 12,000 small and micro employers to reach their staging date have complied with the law. As expected, a number needed the additional nudge of enforcement action. Just over a thousand £400 fixed penalty fines were issued between October 2015 and the end of December 2015 and, in fact, around half of all notices issued to date were issued in this quarter.

The C&E bulletin includes two anonymous case studies. An employer in the sports sector is liable to pay a £10,000 escalating penalty, because it repeatedly failed to engage with us or put things right.

We began County Court proceedings against an employer in the restaurant sector who had not paid their £400 fixed penalty fine.

For the full details go to: www.tpr.gov.uk/doc-library/research-analysis.aspx#s16191

•       Webinar: your automatic enrolment questions answered by our experts on Wednesday 24 February 3.00pm - 4.00pm

We always receive more questions than we have time to answer in our regular webinars, so we’re hosting a special extended session on 24 February, in order to give more time for questions and answers.

Register for the webinar on this page www.tpr.gov.uk/press/webinar-your-automatic-enrolment-questions-answered-by-our-experts.aspx

•        Bulk staging date facility to cease at end of March

The facility to request staging dates for multiple employers (in bulk by email) will cease on 31 March 2016.  An employer’s staging date can still be looked up on our web site: https://automation.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/en/employers/dutieschecker/login?segmentation=Employer

We have recently launched a Staging Date API (Application Program Interface) service.  This allows a third party software application (such as payroll software or a web based service) to directly communicate with our database to request employers’ staging dates, based on their PAYE reference. This would allow users of anysoftware that has this capability to check or find a staging date, without having to open a separate browser window to use our website tool.

If you are a software provider interested in building an interface to use our Staging Date API, please email us at: pension_reforms_for_software_developers@thepensionsregulator.gov.uk   

• Are you and your clients prepared?

Around half a million small and micro employers will be required to meet their duties in 2016.

• The regulator is again warning employers to start planning in good time. The majority of compliance notices issued in the last quarter of 2015 were because employers had left their preparations too late. 
• Some employers have become non-compliant by failing to complete their declaration of compliance, because they wrongly assumed their business adviser was doing this for them. Employers and their advisers should make sure they both understand who is doing each automatic enrolment task - and advisers should be clear about what services they offer.
• If an employer has an existing pension scheme, they must not assume it will be suitable for automatic enrolment. They should ensure they contact their pension scheme provider (pension adviser) early to check it meets the requirements. For further details see: www.tpr.gov.uk/choosing-a-pension-scheme.aspx#s21065
• Tell us if your clients employ care professionals

If your clients employ care professionals and you have their permission to share this data with 3rd ‎parties, please complete and return the attached spreadsheet to let us know which PAYE references are being used by service users.

Retirement, Pensions, Pension Reforms