Does the employer have an obligation to inform staff about pension

illumintai

Does the employer have an obligation to inform staff about the pension scheme when he becomes eligible ?

I want to know if there are any gov guidelines (or law) on how quickly staff needs to be informed on how to enrol.

Thank you.

pelirocco

https://www.gov.uk/workplacepensions?gclid=CPGrltWFwsACFZTLtAodLSIA6g


have you been given your enrolment date yet ? because you need to start finding a provider as soon as possible you cannot not risk not being ready by your enrolment date .

employees have to be automatically enrolled unless they have opted out

Your_Hero

illumintai wrote: »

Does the employer have an obligation to inform staff about the pension scheme when he becomes eligible ?

I want to know if there are any gov guidelines (or law) on how quickly staff needs to be informed on how to enrol.

Thank you.

The employer has a duty to keep all staff informed as they all have rights under auto-enrolment.

http://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/employers/writing-to-staff-about-automatic-enrolment.aspx#s9540

and

http://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/docs/guide-talking-to-your-employees-about-pensions.pdf

BobQ

Why would an employer not tell their staff about a benefit of working there?

Seabee42

There are some information requirements under automatic enrolment legislation that falls on the employer. This can be covered by a letter prior to the staging date (or for new employees upon appointment). Some of them fall on the pension provider.

The information requirement is of the order of just advising what the employer is doing to satisfy automatic enrolment.

SlightlySmart

BobQ wrote: »

Why would an employer not tell their staff about a benefit of working there?

Administrative hassle, cost of employer contributions (which are now mandatory).

They have to inform by law now, but it's still in an employer's interest to discourage takeup of the pension for these reasons.

Many ways of doing this, such as choosing a high-fee pension provider, agreeing high comissions with a financial advisor, or reducing/cancelling pay rises/bonuses of staff who take up the pension.

Your_Hero

SlightlySmart wrote: »

Many ways of doing this, such as choosing a high-fee pension provider

I don't think this would be enough to discourage to the average person from joining. They would still benefit from joining the scheme due to employer contribution. But anyway auto-enrolment pension charges are to be capped at 0.75% with effect from April 2015.

, agreeing high comissions with a financial advisor, or reducing/cancelling pay rises/bonuses of staff who take up the pension.

How does the employer agree "high commissions" with a financial adviser?

There are no commissions anymore, and any fees incurred for advice by the employer in setting up the pension can't be deducted from the employees' pension.

Employers cannot discourage staff in joining the scheme and certainly can't reduce/cancel pay rises for those who join. This would be illegal and the employer would face severe punishment.

Thrugelmir

SlightlySmart wrote: »

or reducing/cancelling pay rises/bonuses of staff who take up the pension.

That's the commercial reality. The cost has to be borne by the Company. So yes, many people will be receiving pension in lieu of a pay rise.

kangoora

Your_Hero wrote: »

Employers cannot discourage staff in joining the scheme and certainly can't reduce/cancel pay rises for those who join. This would be illegal and the employer would face severe punishment.

/cough, welcome to the world of small companies, especially in depressed areas. My wife's last firm hadn't given out any pay rise for 5 years. Her current one had their first pay rise in 6 years this year. Luckily she's only spent about 2 years across the two so far and luckily managed to catch the pay rise

It is extremely likely that introduction of pensions via auto-enrolment will mean another year (potentially more) without a pay rise for staff within a LOT of smaller companies.

Your_Hero

kangoora wrote: »

/cough, welcome to the world of small companies, especially in depressed areas. My wife's last firm hadn't given out any pay rise for 5 years. Her current one had their first pay rise in 6 years this year. Luckily she's only spent about 2 years across the two so far and luckily managed to catch the pay rise

It is extremely likely that introduction of pensions via auto-enrolment will mean another year (potentially more) without a pay rise for staff within a LOT of smaller companies.

I understand what you're saying but if the company isn't making enough money to justify a pay rise then that is a separate issue.

My point was that the employer cannot directly reduce your pay or offset any pay increases simply because you've joined their pension scheme. Likewise, they can't be seen to give financial incentives to those who opt out either.

greenglide

In practice small companies would use auto-enrolment to curtail / freeze all pay increases irrespective of whether people had opted out of the pension scheme.

This then is legal and is just another reason not to pay their staff more!