Clearview National December 2015 - Issue 169 | Page 81

BUSINESSNEWS

Auto-enrolment: Do you know
enough and how to prepare?
Bivek Sharma, Head of Small Business Accounting at KPMG talks to Clearview
about Auto-enrolment and what this means for businesses throughout the UK.
»»Auto-enrolment is sweeping
the nation. By Summer 2017, every employer
will need to have arranged and be contributing
towards a workplace pension scheme – and to
register their arrangements with the Pensions
Regulator.
With one in seven retirees leaving work
without any form of personal pension , the
initiative – in principle – undoubtedly shows
proactivity on behalf of the government.
But with such a monumental change to our
pensions system now fast approaching, the big
question is: has enough been done to prepare
small businesses for the big switch?
Bivek Sharma takes a look at the ins and
outs of the new system and advises on how
you can best prepare your business for the
change.

Unprepared for
auto-enrolment
Start your planning now. The deadline for
businesses with 30 to 39 members to comply
with AE (on 1 October 2015) has already
passed, while for businesses with fewer than
30 members of staff, staging is staggered
over years, from June 2015, depending on the
last two characters in their PAYE reference
number.

Do I have to register for AE?
It might seem tempting, especially for
microbusinesses with only a handful of
employees, to simply ignore the autoenrolment deadlines - but do this at your
peril. Non-compliance by an employer with a
PAYE scheme of between five and 49 people
could risk fines of up to £500/day ! So far, the
Pensions Regulator has confirmed that they
have fined around 600 employers for noncompliance.

Yes,that means you too!
The government requires even the smallest
of businesses to eventually sign up. So if you
hire a nanny or a small team of part-time staff,
you will need to enrol.

You’ll need to offer AE to any workers over
the age of 22, under the state pension age, and
earn more than £9,440-a-year (a threshold
which may rise between now and when small
businesses reach their start date). These
workers must be enrolled if they are not
already part of a qualifying workplace pension
scheme.

How can I get everything
sorted in time?
Businesses have an ongoing responsibility
to stay compliant, adding and removing joiners
and leavers, as well as assessing employees
as their rates of pay change and dealing with
opt-outs which poses a significant challenge in
itself.
Fortunately, registering with a pensions
provider and completing the above tasks will
keep you compliant, legal and most importantly,
provide your staff with secure savings for
retirement.

However, this will undoubtedly require time
and resource, so it would be sensible for those
with no experience of running workplace
pension schemes to seek the help from a
financial adviser for guidance on the autoenrolment process - as soon as possible.
KPMG Small Business Accounting can help
businesses get on top of their auto enrolment
programme. We can provide advice on how
to deal with auto-enrolment including helping
you to choose a provider, advising you on
the new requirements and preparing you for
the ongoing systems and communications
challenge.
www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/pensions/
article-3092902/One-seven-retirees-nopersonal-pension-savings-Pru-survey-finds.html
www.theactuary.com/news/2015/06/
one-in-four-smes-not-prepared-for-autoenrolment/#sthash.uRY5FKLJ.dpuf

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