The Pension Regulator has released auto-enrolment commentary and analysis for the year up to 31st March 2017. From Nathan Long – Senior Pension Analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.
The Pension Regulator used its powers 50,068 times in the year, this compares to only 8,812 in the preceding year – 153 employers issued with a County Court Judgment for failing to pay fines in respect of auto-enrolment; 398 whistleblowing instances in the year, more than half were down to incorrectly paid contributions;
Nearly eight out of ten employees (78 percent) are saving for retirement. £87.1 billion saved into pension by eligible employees in the year. Estimate up to 615,000 employers with staff yet to begin auto-enrolment.
The Pension Regulator has shown it is no push over, with a consistent approach to bringing non-compliant firms back in line helping to keep the good ship auto-enrolment on course. Choppy waters are on the horizon with almost 600,000 micro employers still needing to comply and hikes in the amount that needs to be paid into pensions for both the employer and their staff coming next year.
There is rightly increasing pressure to include the self-employed in saving for retirement, but this will bring further challenges for an already busy regulator.’
