All employers in the UK are required to automatically enrol employees earning over a set threshold into an auto-enrolment-compliant pension scheme. These requirements were phased in between October 2012 and February 2018, with larger employers passing their staging dates before smaller ones.
Employers and employees must pay contributions into a qualifying pension scheme that complies with the auto-enrolment requirements. Contributions are based on upper and lower thresholds. Employees are able to opt-out of the auto-enrolment scheme but must be periodically re-enrolled by their employer every three years.
The compliance burden for auto-enrolment is significant. We can review your existing pension arrangements and check that your scheme meets the quality requirements. We can advise on the information that needs to be provided to employees and workers about auto-enrolment, as well as information that must be given to the Pensions Regulator.
We can advise on issues such as the relationship between the annual allowance and auto-enrolment (which can be a concern for high earners), as well as flexible benefit structures and pensionable pay provisions.
Auto-enrolment is part of Shoosmiths’ wider pensions offering. If you would like help finding the right team or lawyer please contact us on +44 (0)3700 863 000 or contact us by email to [email protected].
