Concerns re small employers incurring auto-enrolment penalties

There are thousands of small employers who have yet to stage, indeed, they could be staging up to 18 months from now.

Alan Smith, the founder of First Actuarial, believes that many of them could incur penalties of up to ￡400 by failing to comply with Compliance Notices because they have not completed their Declaration of Compliance. This is one of the duties employers must carry out even if there is no one to auto-enroll.

"The well-meaning employer will go through and analyse the workforce and realise they have no one who has to be auto-enrolled," Smith said.

"They do not need to set the scheme up but they do need to complete their declaration of compliance to tell TPR they have looked at their duties and have nothing to do.”

Advisors should make sure that such employers are aware of their obligations.

This warning comes at a time when The Pensions Regulator is being encouraged to ensure compliance with legislation.

We have Henry Tapper from First Actuarial and Andy Nicholls from the Pensions Regulator speaking at our annual conference on 8/9 June.