19th May 2016

The Pensions Regulator - Industry Liaison update May 2016

Workie is working
Our research shows that 79% of employers recall seeing or hearing a recent advert (TV, radio or on the web) and we’ve had over 690,000 unique visitors to the employers’ home page since the Workie campaign launch (up to end of March).

The latest wave of advertising has a revised voiceover - with a sense of urgency added, as people are asked to visit the website ‘today’. The will be on your screens and radio until the end of May.

Our latest compliance and enforcement bulletin
More than 95% of the first small and micro employers required to put their staff into a workplace pension have now complied with the law. As expected, a number needed the additional nudge of enforcement action. Just over eight hundred £400 fixed penalty fines were issued between January 2016 and the end of March 2016. This reflects the number of small employers who staged during mid 2015. And over 100 escalating penalty notices were issued in the same period.

The C&E bulletin includes two case studies. In one, an employer in the restaurant sector who had not paid their £400 fixed penalty fine was issued with an escalating penalty notice. However, because they contacted us on receipt of the escalating penalty notice, they avoided paying further penalties because they put things right by the specified deadline.

An employer in the healthcare sector informed us that they had a problem with their provider who would not offer a qualifying scheme. However, as the employer only became aware of this after their staging date and no scheme had been put in place, they ended up paying contributions backdated to the staging date. This case shows the potential consequences of not allowing sufficient time to prepare.

For more information go to: www.tpr.gov.uk/doc-library/research-analysis.aspx#s16191

New animation: selecting a pension scheme
Hot on the heels of the Duties Checker animation, our latest animation for advisers on ‘choosing a pension scheme’ has now been published. In two minutes, you’ll find out about your role in helping your client choose a scheme and where to go for more information and help: www.tpr.gov.uk/your-role-helping-client-choose-scheme.aspx

Register now for our webinar on 30 June 3-4pm – a regulations update with extended Q&A
In our next webinar, we’ll be focusing on the April 2016 regulation changes, provide you with our latest compliance and enforcement facts and figures. We’ve also extended the Q&A session again, so we can try to answer more of your queries. Register at: https://registration.livegroup.co.uk/ae_business_adviser_june/

Updated detailed guidance - April 2016
The detailed guidance has recently been updated to include the new thresholds, changes relating to worker exceptions (including the new employer option to not automatically enrol a director) - and changes to the timings for completing the re-declaration of compliance when carrying out cyclical re-enrolment. These changes came into force on 6 April 2016.

To download all of the guidance in one click go to: www.tpr.gov.uk/doc-library/automatic-enrolment-detailed-guidance.aspx#11684

Pensions