Recently, one of our clients realised that their out-sourced payroll company had not been making the correct contributions to their employees’ auto-enrolment pensions. They were very concerned that they may have breached the strict rules surrounding auto-enrolment duties and feared that they may have left themselves open to an investigation by the Pension Regulator.
Employees had not received the correct contributions into their pension and some had not been enrolled into the pension during the appropriate enrolment window.
“Our auto-enrolment pension had been set up by our accountants in conjunction with our payroll provider” our client explained. “While the pension generally seems to run fine a number of employees had queried the amount that was being contributed to their pension. In addition I had been reading in the press that The Pensions Regulator was increasingly investigating companies and have fined a large number of them for non-compliance with the auto-enrolment rules”
“When I started to look into this I soon realised that this is a specialised area and outside the expertise of our accountant and payroll provider.”
“We decided to engage Canter Holland to determine if we had breached any of the rules and then make the necessary changes and communicate directly with The Pensions Regulator on our behalf”
The clear priority to us was to ensure that employees received the money that was owed. This task was completed efficiently following extensive calculations of the correct payments to be made.
Following this, we supported our clients in communicating the issue with staff to ensure that no confidence in the company was lost and to illustrate the importance of pension savings to the employees.
Our client was keen to communicate the breach of the rules to The Pensions Regulator in order to establish that they had fully met their legal duties following the mistakes with the contributions made to the pension. We managed the whole process for them by putting together evidence to show the regulator that everything was in order and completed all administration and communications on their behalf.
Supporting businesses in securing their future
Subsequent to the investigation, our client enlisted us to support them on an ongoing basis. We liaise closely with their accountant and payroll provider on a monthly basis and complete all of the pension administration. In addition we offer full support to staff with their pension queries. This removes a significant administrative burden from our client’s workload.
Further to this, we complete a full annual compliance check following The Pensions Regulator’s guidelines by completing an Annual Governance Report.
At a glance, our auto-enrolment pension planning advice:
“By using Canter Holland we are confident that we stay within the auto-enrolment rules and will not get pulled up by The Pensions Regulator for non-compliance. Our employees are happy that a specialised firm is looking after our pension administration and our accountant and payroll provider can now work with a company who understand the rules fully.”
Learn more about how our Auto-Enrolment legislation can prove valuable to your business
Call 0845 127 1444 or hello@canterholland.com
