On Monday 11 February 2013 the government confirmed it plans to open a consultation next month on the proposed technical changes to auto-enrolment into a qualifying pension scheme. The objective is to provide employers and the pensions industry with an opportunity to comment on the proposed changes, with a view to simplifying the process thereafter.
Since October 2012 employers with over 120,000 employees have been obliged to provide their employees with access to a qualifying workplace pension scheme. This obligation is to be rolled out gradually over the next five years and will eventually apply to every employer in the UK, regardless of size.
Feedback on auto-enrolment since October has identified a number of ways in which the system could be improved, including:
Making assessment of the workforce easier.
• Making it easier to demonstrate that money purchase schemes meet the requirements to be ‘qualifying schemes’ for auto-enrolment purposes.
• Removing the duty to enrol particular groups of employees, such as those who benefit from protection because they have already exceeded the lifetime allowance for tax purposes.
• Recognition of the need to give enough notice to allow employers and providers to update their systems in time.
For more information, please see:
http://www.dwp.gov.uk/newsroom/press-releases/2013/feb-2013/dwp021-13.shtml
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