Following a freedom of information request The Pensions Regulator confirmed that it had received 114 allegations of employers persuading employees to opt out of pension schemes. Even if the employee doesn’t opt out this is an offense under section 54 of the Pensions Act 2008.
TPR said that there was no evidence that employers trying to encourage their workers to opt out of pension schemes was widespread. A TPR spokesperson said “Nevertheless, we would encourage any workers who are not being given the pensions they are entitled to or who believe their employers are committing pensions offences to contact us and we will investigate.”
Membership of a workplace pension is a valuable employment right, if the employee meets the criteria. But what is the criteria? If you don’t know it is possible that your employees could report you to The Pensions Regulator. We have reported on this news page in recent months on a number of cases being brought to Court by TPR. Keeping up to date with all the obligations of being an employer and payroll processes is a full-time job, which is 100% what we do. We take the burden of payroll administration and processing away from our clients so get in touch if you would like to know more about how we work.