Auto-enrolment dates revised January 2012
Posted date: 25 January 2012
Revised auto-enrolment and employer contribution dates have been released by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
Steve Webb has confirmed that medium-sized businesses have been re-allocated implementation times for auto-enrolment to between 1 April 2014 and 1 April 2015. Small ones will follow suit between 1 June 2015 and 1 April 2017.
The new scheme means that some companies will have gained an additional nine months in order to prepare for the legislation. The Pensions Minister said that despite the change in timeframe, 70 per cent of eligible workers will be enrolled by the end of this Parliament – only five per cent less than in the original proposal.
Those firms with a staging date on or before 1 February 2014 are unaffected by the move.
Joanne Segars, Chief Executive of the National Association of Pension Funds, commented: “Now the Government needs to stick to the new timetable and avoid last-minute changes that will undermine the success of the reforms. There have been too many delays already.”
Coinciding with this announcement is the proposed postponement in the increase in minimum employer contributions. Organisations will not have to raise payments from one to two per cent until 1 October 2017 – a year later than planned. The rise to three per cent will not take place until 1 October 2018.
A consultation will be published on the detail of these amendments, along with draft regulations and an impact assessment.
Clive Grimley, Partner at Barnett Waddingham, added: “The longer phasing period is good news for employers as it will help them incorporate the financial implications of the changes over a longer period and will help with costs if recessionary pressures continue in the short term.”
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