Auto-Enrolment Update – Case Law And Trigger Changes

Auto-enrolment update

Key points:

• The Queen on the application of Fleet Maritime Services (Bermuda) Limited v. The Pensions Regulator [2015] EWHC 3744 confirms when peripatetic (basically "mobile") workers, who spend time outside the UK, are covered by an employer's auto-enrolment duties.
• The new qualifying earnings band for auto-enrolment minimum contributions will apply from April 2016 and remains based on the national insurance upper and lower earnings limits. The trigger for auto-enrolment remains at last year's level of the equivalent of £10,000 per annum in any pay period. 
• Looking forward, the increased minimum contribution requirements are moving to April 2018 and April 2019 to match the tax year, and we may have big pensions tax relief upheavals to look forward to in the next Budget.