It has taken a little longer than expected, but finally the jaws of regulation are closing on those employers who have failed to meet their auto-enrolment (AE) legal duties.
The announcement from the Pensions Regulator includes a confirmation that three employers have been now been fined for non-compliance.
While the initial levels of fine are modest, it does show that at long last the policing of auto-enrolment duties is about to become a more serious affair. This is important as the industry is very aware that many AE stagers in the last few months have ’gone missing’, so there are potentially lots of breaches to be uncovered yet.
It’s also worth highlighting that the changes to AE scheme minimum standards start to bite in only a few months — and this could have an impact on even those employers who felt they had already successfully undertaken their AE duties.
So employers would be well advised to check and ensure that they have fulfilled their duties at the earliest opportunity.
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