The total number of employers fined for failing to comply with their workplace pensions duties reached 169 by the end of 2014, according to figures from The Pensions Regulator (TPR).
However, this figure represents a small number compared to the tens of thousands of businesses which have now complied with their auto-enrolment duties.
TPR also found:
- The number of employers approaching the date when they must confirm that they have complied with new workplace pensions duties (known as a declaration of compliance) is now beginning to rise significantly.
- Approximately 30,000 medium-sized employers which staged between April and July 2014 reached their deadline to complete their declaration of compliance by the start of December 2014.
- 166 fixed penalty notices (£400 fines) were issued in the last three months of the year.
- 1,139 compliance notices, which instruct employers to remedy a contravention of one or more of their employer duties or risk a fine or further action from the regulator, were issued.
Charles Counsell, director of automatic-enrolment at The Pensions Regulator, said: “Failing to declare within five months of [their] staging date means employers risk being fined, which is why we recommend [they] start auto-enrolment planning and preparation 12 months before staging.
“It appears some medium employers waited for a prompt from the regulator before completing their auto-enrolment duties.
“Employers must complete all their duties including making their declaration of compliance to The Pensions Regulator.
“With the mass market roll out of auto-enrolment to large numbers of small businesses in the coming months, we expect to see an increase in how often we need to use our powers.
“The vast majority of employers complete their duties on or ahead of time, but we are seeing a small minority that require the additional nudge of a notice from The Pensions Regulator.”
