Auto-enrolment was introduced in 2012 as part of the government’s workplace pension reforms. Its introduction into the workplace means that every employer in the country is required to place staff over a certain threshold into a pension scheme and contribute towards it each month.
Currently, business owners must pay at least one per cent of an employee’s “qualifying earnings” into a workplace pension, which could rise to three per cent in 2019 if approved by parliament.
Small businesses now have a need to get up to speed on the stipulations of auto-enrolment. Certain criteria mean that while not all businesses will need to enrol staff onto a pension scheme, every trading company must complete a declaration of compliance in order to make The Pensions Regulator aware of its situation.
The Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) reported that while awareness of the auto-enrolment process and the eligibility conditions remains high (97 per cent) for SMEs, the awareness level for micro firms sits at just 65 per cent.
The infographic we’ve created below demonstrates the key figures of auto-enrolment, and offers staging levels for businesses of all sizes to help business owners understand how the scheme affects their company.
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