Employers who fail to comply with the new pensions auto-enrolment regulations may be subject to statutory notices, penalties or escalating fines, The Pensions Regulator has warned.
Publishing its strategy for tackling non-compliance, the Regulator revealed that employers will also be prohibited from offering incentives to their workers to opt out of the pension once they have been auto-enrolled.
In addition, it has launched a range of letter templates to help employers fulfil their legal obligations to write to their employees.
The new legislation stipulates that employers must automatically enrol all eligible employees into a qualifying pension scheme and pay a minimum contribution into the fund.
The new duties are being phased in from 1 October 2012, starting with the largest organisations. All employers will be required to comply with the regulations by 2017.
‘Every employer needs to play their part to make these pension reforms work, and our goal is to make that task as straightforward as possible,’ said Bill Gavin, chief executive of The Pension Regulator.
‘For those that do not engage, however, we want to make it clear there are consequences. We'll apply the law fairly and where we find consistent or wilful non-compliance we will use our powers, so that employees do not miss out on contributions they are due’.
Further information is available at www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk.