Following our earlier post regarding pension reforms for small businesses, we can confirm that The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) has announced a further delay for auto-enrolment.

The updated date for introduction of the revised pension scheme for employers with fewer than 50 employees (small businesses) will be delayed until 1 June 2015.

The Pensions Act 2008 creates a new pension scheme of auto enrolment, under which employers will have to automatically enrol all ‘eligible jobholders’ into a qualifying workplace pension scheme (”QWPS”) if they are not already enrolled in a workplace pension scheme. Under the new scheme both the employer and employee will be required to make contributions to the QWPS. This is likely to be expensive and time-consuming for many employers.

The Pension Regulator should write to you 12 months before the changes affect your business and send you a reminder about 3 months before the changes come into effect.

We at Magenta will also be keeping a good eye on what is happening and will keep you informed and assist you in ensuring compliance with the new regulations.