First Auto-Enrolment Fines Handed Out

The Pensions Regulator’s (TPR’s) latest quarterly update on its investigations into Auto-Enrolment confirms that it has served three firms with £400 fixed penalties for failing to comply with an unpaid contributions notice or a compliance notice.

It can only get worse because, whilst more than 33,000 large and medium sized employers have already begun auto-enrolling staff, there are a further 1.25 million due to hit their staging dates over the next three years. There is a huge capacity crunch looming, as there will be an insufficient number of advisory firms available to help these employers comply with their legal duties. The message has to be, act early before the tsunami hits.

TPR executive director for Automatic-Enrolment Charles Counsell says:

“As we deal with smaller employers, we will see more who, despite our message to prepare early, leave it too late or do not comply at all. This type of non-compliance is not acceptable. We expect to see the number of times we need to use our powers increase.

The regulator has a range of powers to tackle non-compliance including serving fixed penalty notices and escalating daily penalties notices.”

We can help. Please phone Bernard Macken on 0113 202 9529 or e-mail bfm@pipllp.co.uk. Please visit our website www.pipllp.co.uk