1 March 2018
We are once again exhibiting at Kent Vision LIVE and hope to defend our most innovative stand trophy that we won last year.
Click here to register for your free place and we’ll see you there! Or contact us now if you aren’t able to make it.
The Pensions Regulator’s most recent Quarterly Compliance and Enforcement bulletin covers October to December 2017. It shows that the number of Compliance Notices issued during the period was 17,949. This is an increase of 29% on the total amount issued since October 2012. The number of Fixed Penalty Notices of £400 for failure to comply with a statutory notice was also up 30%. While Escalating Penalty Notices of between £50 and £10,000 per day were up 27%.
The Pensions Regulator’s not playing games, auto-enrolment is not an option, it is the law. If you refuse to become compliant you could end up with a criminal record.
In November 2017, MD Alan Stott of Stotts Tours bus company discovered this. They plead guilty to 16 offences of willful non-compliance with their auto-enrolment duties. On 7th February 2018, they were fined £27,000, plus £7,400 costs and a £120 victim surcharge. Alan Stott was also personally ordered to pay a £4,455 fine and a £120 victim surcharge. This is in addition to £14,400 civil fines the employer owes for failing to comply with auto-enrolment laws.
Why risk the fines? Did you know that declaration of compliance is not the end?
A recent survey revealed 57% of family businesses would cease trading within a year, and 1/4 would close immediately following the loss of a key person. Fewer than half of SMEs having any sort of succession plan in place. So it’s more important now than ever to understand your options when it comes to Business Protection.
As every business owner or manager will know, you can’t plan for everything. However, you can make provisions to ensure that you and your company are protected should the worst happen.
From Key Man insurance to Shareholder Protection, there are so many facets to Business Protection, it’s easy to get lost. So here’s a quick rundown to help you to decide if they’re right for you.
In a nutshell, Business Protection is a means of protecting your company against the unexpected. Whether your e-commerce platform undergoes a cyber attack or if a key member of your team is forced to take a leave of absence, this insurance policy ensures your core business is safeguarded against any eventuality.
Business Protection encompasses many things, which may or may not be applicable to the nature of what you do. It’s therefore important to get the right advice, from a qualified consultant like Corinthian, before you take out any policies.
It is estimated that only 2% of SMEs have Business Protection insurance which is a worrying statistic.
You protect your car, your equipment and your building, but what about your business? If you are a shareholder, the business may also be your way of funding retirement for you and your family.
Before you read on any further, ask yourself the following:
• Could your business survive the loss of a key employee or shareholder?
• Would you be able to buy out their share in the business?
• If you were a shareholder when you died, would your dependents get a fair price?
• Could a competitor buy into the business?
• Could your credit terms worsen?
• Would clients take longer to pay causing cash flow problems?
• Would profits fall?
• Could key relationships be lost?
• Could the business cope if secured loans are recalled?
• Would employees become unsettled and leave?
A Business Protection policy will essentially future-proof your company. So no matter how large or small you are, some kind of protection for your business is an essential commodity.
Also, once approved, if your company were to ever close down, you can transfer your policy to your new business.
Speak to Corinthian about protecting your business
Key Man insurance is also known as Key Person insurance. It offers you a lump sum or a regular monthly income should a key member of your team need to take a sabbatical from work due to illness.
Why would I need this? This is one of the most popular types of Business Protection – and for good reason. Skilled work isn’t easily transferable to another member of staff. So if a key person did need to take a leave of absence, it might be harder than you think to find a replacement.
How will it help my business? Key Person insurance would safeguard any profit loss incurred during this period and could help to fund the replacement of this key individual. It would also assure your employees and customers alike that your business will be largely unaffected by the period of change.
With any form of Business Protection, you can decide whether you also wish to have cover should poor health prevent the individual from working. The chances of an individual becoming incapacitated can be 3 times greater than death. So covering Critical Illness needs some serious consideration, as the impact to the business could be the same.
In a nutshell, Shareholder Protection insurance will help you to keep control of your business in the event of a shareholder or business partners’ death.
Why would I need this? If you co-own your business, this is almost certainly something that you should consider. In the event of a business partner or shareholder’s death, shares in your business would automatically go to their next of kin, who may want to take an instrumental role in how your business is run.
How will it help my business? A Shareholder Protection policy ensures that the shares remain inside the business and instead, a lump sum is given to the next of kin.
If your business has a loan secured by an individual – such as a director – who then dies, that loan is likely to become payable straight away. Loan Protection will safeguard you against such an outcome, giving you a lump sum to use to pay off the remainder of the loan balance upon this key person’s death.
Why would I need this? With all the other impacts following the death of the individual who will most likely also be a key person, shareholder or both, trying to find the funds to repay the loan from existing resources will be a challenge for any business. The loan itself could be secured against their residential property and the implications for their family could be severe.
How will it help my business? Loan Protection will give peace of mind both to the business and to dependents. Should the unthinkable happen, you will all be covered.
Your best course of action would be to get in touch with an employee benefits consultancy, like Corinthian, who will talk you through your options for business protection.
Corinthian offers a fully-comprehensive service, covering all aspects of your Business Protection policy. Speak to a Corinthian advisor today and we’ll help you to decide:
• What form of Business Protection is most important?
• What level of Business Protection cover is needed?
• How should it be structured?
• What documentation is needed and how to complete it?
• Which providers are most competitive and easiest to deal with?
• Should a payment also be made on their incapacity or critical illness, not just on death?
Corinthian offers an on-going support package too. We’ll review the cover as your company’s needs change.
To find out more about what business protection your company should have, speak to a Corinthian advisor.
23 February 2018
This comes just days after the collapse of a proposed merger with Scottish Widows had been announced. Standard Life had in recent years been the largest workplace pensions provider in the UK. It will continue to market and distribute the workplace pensions, which will retain the Standard brand name, on a white-label basis, while the back office administration and ownership of the schemes will transfer to Phoenix.
A Standard Life source says it is too early to say whether there will be any job losses.
Why not take a look at our other articles about pensions in the industry:
Now: Pensions is arguably the third-biggest master trust in the UK. The provider has been put up for sale following a catalogue of administration problems. These problems have led to the provider exiting the Pension Regulator’s approved provider list and a fine for its trustees.
The provider has been beset with administration problems since launch and has suffered several years of poor performance. So now it has been offered for sale to a number of parties over the last few months. However, at least one provider has rejected the £560m scheme because of ongoing concerns over its administration.
Watch this space for further developments…..
15 February 2018
Implementing a workplace pension is not the end of compliance. So you’ve assessed your staff, put them into a workplace pension scheme, paid your contributions and declared your compliance. That’s not the end! You still have legal duties that need to be completed, auto-enrolment is an ongoing responsibility. It is NOT a one-off exercise.
Every time you run your payroll you should be assessing your staff. You need to check who should be enrolled in the pension scheme and work out how much to pay in. If you took on any new employees who are eligible for auto-enrolment, these workers need to be enrolled too. You also have to manage the opt-outs and requests to opt-in and maintain records.
Re-enrolment takes place every three years and eligible staff who previously opted-out or left the scheme must be put back into it and a re-declaration of compliance must be completed to confirm what you have done about re-enrollment to the Pensions Regulator.
Failure to comply with your ongoing duties will lead to a fine, so if you need help with your new pension responsibilities, please don’t hesitate to Contact Us
6 February 2018
The trustee of master trust Now: Pensions has been fined £70,000. They have also been given a set of stringent deadlines to fix long-running pension scheme issues. This was announced by the Pensions Regulator (tPR) today.
Their CEO maintains that they “remain very much open for business”. However, in July 2017 NOW: Pensions voluntarily removed themselves from the Master Trust Assurance list for Auto Enrolment providers. This was after a discussion with tPR surrounding its historic contribution issues.
Read more about the Now: Pensions being fined here.
Update: Now: Pensions is up for sale.
23 January 2018
Corinthian Benefits are recruiting an Implementation Consultant to join our friendly team in Tunbridge Wells.
This role would suit an individual with knowledge of defined contribution pension schemes and auto-enrolment.
To apply, please send your CV along with a cover letter to Roger at [email protected]
22 January 2018
Although this article is through a free subscription of Employee Benefits online magazine, it is definitely worth a read.
The tendency with many employers is to put employee benefits in place and then think about how to engage people with them, but if they do that they are doing things the wrong way round.
The benefits package is important, but engagement must follow on from employees feeling value in what they do.
Read the full article here
The Prime Minister has pledged to stop bosses taking excessive remuneration from companies. She has pledged to do this with ‘at-risk’ pension schemes by introducing tougher new pension rules this spring.
Read the full article here from Corporate Adviser.
Find out other industry news from Corinthian here: