If you've just started a company, you need to read this...

Start-up businesses have a legal duty from this month on to put staff straight into a workplace pension as soon as they employ them.

The start of instant pension duties coincided with the fifth anniversary of auto-enrolment and shows that providing a workplace pension is now simply part of running a business.

More than 8.5million more people have begun saving into a workplace pension since 2012, while nearly 800,000 employers have met their auto-enrolment duties.

Darren Ryder, director of auto-enrolment at The Pensions Regulator, said: “The start of instant pension duties for new businesses will continue the great strides automatic enrolment has made to reverse the downward trend in workplace saving.

“Providing a workplace pension is now the business norm and staff expect to be saving into a pension as part and parcel of their employment.

“Every employer who has successfully met their duties and done the right thing for their staff has contributed to the success of automatic enrolment.”

Progress

Since 2012, £405billion is reported to have been saved into workplace pensions - £119billion in employee contributions, £247billion employer contributions and £39.2billion in tax relief.

The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association has hailed the progress made to date by auto-enrolment.

Apart from the huge sums of money being saved into pensions, other highlights include:

• The proportion of eligible private-sector employees who save into a workplace pension increased from 42% in 2012 to 73% last year.
• Almost three-quarters of all employers support the policy of auto-enrolment, with this proportion rising to 92% among large employers.
• More than 60% of people in the private sector who earn between £10,000 and £20,000 now save into a pension, compared to just 20% in 2012.

Graham Vidler, director of external affairs at the national association, which helps pension professionals run better pension schemes, said: "Automatic enrolment is a huge success story which has seen the number of people who save into a workplace pension increase significantly.

"Our members have been at the forefront of the successful delivery of this initiative and we regularly hear how automatic enrolment is transforming people’s retirement aspirations.

“The concept has also entered the national psyche, with more than four out of five employees saying they have heard of automatic enrolment and almost three-quarters of employers supportive of this policy.

Help for small businesses

We've already helped small and medium enterprises of all size prepare for auto-enrolment and we continue to help by providing cost effective solutions.

To find out how we could help your business, click here.