TPRS Latest Round Of Spot Checks

Inspection teams will visit dozens of businesses in Nottingham, Derby and Leicester this month to check that qualifying staff are being given the workplace pensions they are entitled to.

The move is part of a nationwide enforcement campaign which began in London last spring to ensure employers are meeting their automatic enrolment duties correctly.

This is the first time these checks have been done in the East Midlands. Short-notice inspections have also been carried out in Greater Manchester, Sheffield, Birmingham, South Wales, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

The checks will help TPR understand whether employers are facing any unnecessary challenges that we can help them with, such as helping them improve their systems.

But they will also highlight employers who have not taken the required steps to become or remain compliant, paving the way for enforcement action.

Darren Ryder, TPR’s Director of Automatic Enrolment, said:

“The vast majority of employers are compliant with the law, but these visits help us identify why some may be struggling so we can take action where we need to.

“Automatic enrolment is not an option, it’s the law. Where we find employers are not complying, we will use our powers to ensure they comply so that staff receive the pensions they are entitled to.”

Nearly one million employers across the UK have met their automatic enrolment duties, with more than nine million workers given workplace pensions as a result.

Data to the end of December 2017 reveals 1,750 employers in Derby, 3,220 employers in Nottingham and 2,820 employers in Leicester have met their automatic enrolment duties. As a result 125,000 staff in those areas have been put into a workplace pension.