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<p>Automatic enrolment has been a great success, with over 10 million employees enrolled
and more than 1.7 million employers having met their duties to date. Government has
put in place a robust, proportionate compliance framework. This is administered by
The Pensions Regulator (TPR), and includes detailed regulatory guidance about how
to comply with the law. An employer is required to select a qualifying pension scheme;
enrol qualifying staff into that scheme, and deduct any contributions payable under
automatic enrolment.</p><p> </p><p>Employers as well as the trustees or managers of
pension schemes must keep certain records including details of the pension contributions
payable in each relevant pay reference period by an employer to the scheme. This includes
the contributions due on the employer’s behalf and deductions made from an individual’s
earnings. As part of the Regulator’s guidance, employers and pension scheme trustees
or managers must hold information about payment schedules and contributions for six
years, except for opt-outs which must be kept for a minimum of four years.</p><p>
</p><p>TPR has published codes of practice on its website setting out how trustees
of defined contribution pension schemes and managers of personal pension schemes should
monitor the payment of contributions, provide information to help members check their
contributions and report material payment failures to TPR. As part of TPR’s codes
of practice and guidance, there is a requirement for scheme providers to have sufficient
monitoring processes in place. This includes having a risk based approach to monitor
employers who should have in place appropriate internal controls to ensure correct
and timely payment of contributions due to meet their employer duties. If the trustee
or manager becomes aware that this is not the case, or that the employer does not
appear to be taking adequate steps to remedy the situation, for example where there
are repetitive and regular payment failures, then it must be reported to TPR. The
responsibility lies with the employer to ensure their payroll processes are correct
whether in house or outsourced. TPR’s compliance checks include checks of employer
payroll processes and detailed reviews of payroll software. TPR does hold payment
failure reports from pension providers but these do not necessarily represent data
errors<em>.</em></p><p> </p><p>In addition, TPR publishes regular assessments of its
automatic enrolment compliance and enforcement activities as well as an annual commentary
and analysis report, both of which are available on its website.</p><p> </p>
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