1 December 2017

The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has successfully prosecuted Stotts Tours of Oldham.

Scotts Tours and their MD has been prosecuted for deliberately failing to provide staff with an Auto-Enrolment pension scheme.

They were found guilty of 16 offences. These involved willfully failing to comply with workplace pension legislation since their staging date in June 2015. Sentencing is scheduled for 14 December with the court able to impose an unlimited fine. TPR director of auto-enrolment, Darren Ryder, said: “auto-enrolment is not an option, it is the law. Employers should be in no doubt if they wilfully refuse to comply they could end up with a criminal record. And they will still have to give their staff the pensions they are due.”

Remember, auto-enrolment is only partially about the pension scheme itself, it is mainly about administration, data and process. Any employers that have a NEST pension scheme believing they have fulfilled their duties have only ticked one small box. Employers which pay just lip service to their workplace pension duties risk being sued.

TPR revealed that there was a surge in compliance notices relating to auto-enrolment being issued between July and September. 21,753 cases of auto-enrolment powers have been used, up 32% since Q2. Fixed Penalty Notices are up 28% to 24,779 (£400 one-off fine). Escalating Penalty Notices are up 37% to 5,331. That’s a daily fine between £50-£10,000 depending on the companies size).

Compliance and enforcement – Quarterly bulletin: July – September 2017