EXCLUSIVE: Dennis Publishing has increased its pensions take up to 94% following auto-enrolment.
The magazine publisher, which owns a range of car, technology and lifestyle titles, had 265 (67%) employees in its group personal pension (GPP) plan prior to its auto-enrolment staging date.
It had postponed compliance by three months, from January to April 2014. Alison Hunter, group HR director at Dennis Publishing, said: “We took the contractual enrolment route, which helped us clarify our communications.
“We said to staff, ’we are giving you notification that we are contractually enrolling you as part of your terms and conditions, and if you want to cease membership you can do so’.”
The organisation’s GPP, provided by Aviva, met the qualifying criteria for auto-enrolment, although the organisation did remove the salary cap on the scheme.
A £45,000 salary cap had been applicable so that anyone who earned above that amount would be capped at a 3% contribution.
Under auto-enrolment, the entry level for new joiners is set at 2% employee contribution and 2% employer contribution. For existing members, it is 3% employee contribution and 3% employer contribution.
Hunter added: “After a three-month period, the new joiners can upgrade to 3% and 3%.
Dennis Publishing communicated auto-enrolment in the run up to 1 April using emails, flyers and frequently-asked-questions (FAQ) documents.
“We now do bi-monthly elections,” said Hunter. “Every couple of months we sweep up new joiners and we use that as an opportunity to remind employees who are non-members that they can opt in.”