EXCLUSIVE: Trader Media Group is to auto-enrol 310 employees into its group personal pension (GPP) plan on 1 November.
The media organisation, which owns titles such as Auto Trader, postponed auto-enrolment from 1 September.
Currently, 700 of its more than 1,000 employees are already members of its GPP, which is provided by Aviva. Around 20 staff are not eligible to be enrolled under auto-enrolment legislation.
Trader Media Group sent out communications to all non-members of the pension scheme at the end of August to explain auto-enrolment.
Jill Duggan, head of HR services and reward at Trader Media Group, said: “As a result of this communication, we have had about 20 employees contact HR to say that they don’t want to be put in the scheme.
“Of course, we can’t do this and have to enrol them for them to opt out later. But based on the fact that only 20 have so far contacted us out of more than 300, we think that our opt-out rates will be low.”
The 310 employees will have 30 days in November to decide if they wish to opt out of the scheme.
Trader Media Group contributes 5% to employees’ pension, while staff contribute a minimum of 3%.
Duggan added: “[Auto-enrolment] has certainly come at an extra cost to the organisation, and it will cost up to £500,000 a year to maintain. I think for now, we certainly won’t be looking at increasing contribution rates.”