Auto-Enrolment, Are You Ready?

Research suggests that the number of private sector companies offering their employee some sort of pension has declined substantially over recent years, with just 27% of private sector workers belonging to a work based pension scheme. As a result of these long-standing concerns about the adequacy of pensions saving in the UK, new laws will be introduced in 2012 which will require all employers in Great Britain to automatically enrol eligible jobholders into a pension scheme ("Auto-enrolment"). A move which according to the Department of Work and Pensions will result in between 5 to 9 million people saving more.

Auto enrolment will begin in October 2012 and will be phased in over a four year period with larger employers being affected before smaller employers and start up businesses. Each employer will be given a start date for the process known as their 'staging date'. It is however thought that employers will also be able to voluntarily start the process of