Who Does Auto Enrolment Effect?

Who Does Auto Enrolment Effect?

Do you think Auto Enrolment doesn’t effect you?

Well, it does – in one way or another, Auto Enrolment effects every single one of us, employer or employee. Around a month ago, a Sky Bet League 1 Football team, Swindon Town Football Company Ltd(STFC), failed to comply with their Auto Enrolment, eventually incurring £22,900 worth of escalating penalty notices (EPN). According to an official TPR report published on the 21st of April 2016, a notice was issued on the 18th of August 2014, directing the club to automatically enrol their staff and pay workplace pension contributions. However, TPR claimed the company failed to act by the deadline of 17th of October 2014, and the declaration remained incomplete. The TPR then issued a fine of £400 which the employer did not pay. The escalating penalty notice (EPN) was issued on the 20th of January 2015, warning the employer that if it did not comply within 28 days, it would be fined at the fixed penalty rate of £2,500 per day.

After a heap of communication, completing the declaration of compliance & providing assurance to TPR that workplace contributions shall be backdated & adhered to in the future, the TPR received further information from STFC’s pension provider that no back dating had been processed, & that no workplace contributions had been adhered to.

With this case only being settled within the past month, it had incurred £22,900 worth of EPN’s, as well as the workplace pensions in that time backdated & paid up to December 2015, totalling £13,613.39 worth of back payments, issued in 3 monthly installments.

So Auto Enrolment will effect me?

In a nutshell, you have to pay your employees’ workplace pensions, even if you’re a football club. No one can avoid this, & it is an enforceable process if ignored or avoided.

Make sure you’re prepared, avoid EPN’s

Explore Our Auto-Enrolment Pensions Services

Swindown town auto enrolment graphic
 



Author: Gary Parsons
Gary is CEO at Talk Staff, passionate about the role that people play in helping build long-term and sustainable businesses. He sits on local business advisory boards and has been key in leading the growth of Talk Staff from inception in 2009.