The Government’s flagship scheme to encourage more people to save towards their retirement is well underway – but there’s still a distance to go.

Under the workplace pension reform, also known as automatic enrolment, all UK businesses will legally have to offer pensions to workers eligible for auto enrolment by 2018. Employers will also have to contribute towards their workers’ retirement savings, although workers can choose to opt out of the scheme.

The introduction of automatic enrolment commenced in July 2012 and will eventually affect 1.35 million employers (the vast majority of whom will be small- and medium-sized employers), according to The Pensions Regulator[1].

Smaller businesses with between 50 to 249 employees have between 1 April 2014 and 1 April 2015 to automatically enrol all eligible workers into a workplace pension.

Employer checklist

If you haven’t done so already, you may want to:

– Create a plan of action

– Consider setting up a dedicated project team to help co-ordinate the transition

– Select a pension provider

– Communicate with your workers about what’s going to happen

Source:
[1] Automatic enrolment: commentary and analysis 2013 published: July 2013.

INFORMATION IS BASED ON OUR CURRENT UNDERSTANDING OF TAXATION LEGISLATION AND REGULATIONS. ANY LEVELS AND BASES OF, AND RELIEFS FROM, TAXATION ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE.

A PENSION IS A LONG-TERM INVESTMENT. THE FUND VALUE MAY FLUCTUATE AND CAN GO DOWN. YOUR EVENTUAL INCOME MAY DEPEND UPON THE SIZE OF THE FUND AT RETIREMENT, FUTURE INTEREST RATES AND TAX LEGISLATION.