The company pension landscape has been fluid for many years and with wave after wave of firms now having to consider their pension offerings under the auspices of the auto-enrolment rules, this is set to continue.
The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has launched its first business sector visits aimed at making sure firms are ready to comply with auto-enrolment rules ahead of next year’s staging dates.
The regulator’s automatic enrolment compliance and enforcement team has targeted recruitment firms because of specific issues around part-time, temporary and seasonal workers.
TPR says the recruitment sector faces “significant compliance challenges” along with more than 1,000 recruitment companies launching between April and July next year.
The visits seek to prevent and tackle possible auto-enrolment breaches, ensure compliance, learn lessons and share good practice.
TPR says it will launch more sector-specific visits where it believes there are unique challenges, such as communicating with off-site workers.
Charles Counsell, TPR auto-enrolment executive director, says: “These visits were very positive and employers were willing to engage with us and tell us about their experiences.
“Engaging directly in this way helps us to get a good understanding of the issues faced by this sector and use what we learn to help others in the industry.
“Over the coming months we will be carrying out more visits to employers in other sectors where we have identified potential compliance challenges.
“We want to ensure any problems they face are addressed in good time and that they do not run the risk of non-compliance, which can come at a cost.”
If you or your company would like more information about auto-enrolment and how you will be affected, then please do not hesitate to contact us.