The Pensions Regulator: ‘We could be knocking on any employer’s door’

Employers in Stockport are to be targeted with spot-check inspections as The Pensions Regulator looks to protect the retirement savings of workers in the borough.

Inspection teams from The Pensions Regulator (TPR) have been visiting businesses across Greater Manchester, with more visits set to follow in the next few weeks. In Stockport, over 60,000 employees are enrolled into a workplace pension following the introduction of automatic enrolment (AE) in 2012; however, in the North-west alone, more than 6,000 employers were fined last year for breaching AE legislation, facing penalties from £700 up to £15,400.

Head of Compliance and Enforcement and The Pensions Regulator, Joe Turner, explained:

“Automatic enrolment has been a great success in the North West.  

“More than 145,000 employers in the region have enrolled employees in workplace pension schemes since AE was launched in 2012, with over 1.7 million workers gaining pension pots as a result, including more than 250,000 people in Manchester. Many are saving for their retirement for the first time, and we want to make sure all savers get the pensions they have worked so hard for. 

“The great majority of employers are doing the right thing for their staff. However, for the small minority that fail, we will take enforcement action where necessary to protect savers’ money, which can include significant fines and, in some cases, prosecution.

“We could be knocking on any employer’s door”

In-person inspections in Greater Manchester are part of a series being carried out across the UK.

While in some cases the inspections are prompted by intelligence that an employer may have breached regulations, inspections teams may also select employers using a risk-based approach, and carry out checks to ensure they are fully complying with their duties.  

The Pension Regulator monitors employers in various ways, using data shared by HMRC, alerts from pension schemes, whistleblowing reports from individuals, and other information and intelligence. 

Breaches typically include failure to enrol eligible staff in a pension scheme or to pay contributions into a scheme on their staff’s behalf within a prescribed period, which in some cases can include money the employer has already deducted from staff salaries. In some cases this can result in fines, or even prosecution.

Joe Turner added:

“Following the inspections we have already carried out in Greater Manchester, we are continuing to work with those employers to ensure they are compliant and stay on track. We will be conducting more inspections in the area in the coming weeks, and elsewhere in the North West throughout the summer.”?