Auto-enrolment was launched with a fanfare in 2012, with all existing companies required to enrol their staff into a pension scheme by April 2017. The roll-out was phased according to business size with the under 30 employee group being the last to be included.
More than 1.1 million employers had declared their compliance by 2017/18.
Despite this, the number of employers failing to comply with their auto-enrolment responsibilities has resulted in the fines being issued more than doubling over the last two years; 36,137 fines were issued in 2017/18 - up from 14,707 fines in 2016/17.
The Pensions Regulator doesn’t seem unduly anxious, however, and states that this rise is in line with an increased number of employers with auto-enrolment responsibilities rather than being indicative of a widespread issue of non-compliance.
A spokesperson for the Pensions Regulator said:
"Research carried out into employer awareness and understanding of automatic enrolment shows the vast majority of employers are aware of their ongoing duties, which include record-keeping and maintaining contributions”.
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Call us today on 01483 205890 to ensure that you comply with auto-enrolment regulation or to discuss your wider employee benefits package