Issued on: 4 January 2012
Big reforms are taking place in workplace pensions over the next four years which could affect up to 800,000 people working in social enterprises in the UK. The Pensions Trust outlines what social enterprises need to know for 2012, and what they can do to prepare for auto-enrolment.
What is happening in 2012?
New government reforms will mean that employers will be required to enrol all eligible employees into a workplace pension scheme and make an employer’s contribution towards the scheme. This is known as auto-enrolment. These reforms will be introduced over a period of four years, starting in October 2012. This extended time frame is known as ‘staging’ and each employer will have a specific ‘staging date’.
An organisation’s staging date is dictated by its size and by its PAYE reference number. From this date all ‘eligible job holders’1 will need to be enrolled into a ‘qualifying’2 pension scheme. The Pensions Regulator will write to employers twelve months before their ‘staging date’ and again three months before, but it is important to start planning now, especially if the organisation does not already have a pension set up.
How can The Pensions Trust help?
The Pensions Trust provides high quality workplace pensions to over 4,300 organisations and 147,000 people in the third sector, including social enterprises, and can offer help and support when it comes to preparing for auto-enrolment. To help organisations find out when they will need to provide a workplace pensions scheme, The Pensions Trust has created an interactive ‘staging date
tool’ on its website at:
http://www.thepensionstrust.org.uk/TPT/website/AutoEnrolment/Auto-enrolment.htm. The tool will generate a ‘staging date’ and an information document about auto-enrolment.
If there is already a pension scheme set up for its employees, an employer will need to check with its supplier that it is a ‘qualifying’ scheme. Employers who want the value of a trust-based pension scheme might consider using The Pensions Trust’s Flexible Retirement Plan, a multi-employer defined contribution arrangement offered exclusively for the voluntary and social sectors, including social enterprises.
For more information of The Pension Trust’s work with social enterprises, please go to: http://www.thepensionstrust.org.uk/TPT/website/
Thinking+of+Joining+Us/Social+Enterprises+and+
The+Pensions+Trust.htm
Logan Anderson, Head of Customer Relations said: ‘It’s a tough time at the moment for smaller charities and social enterprises, and Steve Webb’s recent announcement that organisations with fewer than 50 employees will be given an extra year to prepare will come as welcome news to many smaller organisations. It doesn’t mean, however, that these organisations should do nothing for the year; it is important that all social enterprises, regardless of size, do what they can now to understand what’s requested of them when the changes come.
The Pensions Trust is here to offer help and support on how to make these changes as quick and painless as possible, and anyone interested in finding out more about The Pensions Trust’s Flexible Retirement Plan or auto-enrolment should contact the New Business Team on 0113 394 2686, or email contact@thepensionstrust.org.uk.’
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