Policy News Journal - 2015-16

Postponement is a flexibility which allows the employer to postpone the assessment of some or all of their staff for up to three months. Employers must write to the staff being postponed within six weeks of their staging date (the date at which automatic enrolment duties start). One of the main reasons an employer may decide to postpone is if they have temporary or short-term staff who they know will stop working for them within three months. They may also choose to use the postponement period to align automatic enrolment with other business processes. While there is no requirement to make TPR aware that a decision has been taken to postpone automatic enrolment, it’s important to be aware that postponement will not change an employer’s declaration of compliance deadline, which will remain the same (5 months after staging date).  Staging date calculator - find out when automatic enrolment applies to your clients.  Introduction to automatic enrolment - guide clients through the basics.  Detailed guidance 10: Information to workers - f or information on what must be provided to what type of staff, at which time, with links on where to find more information.  Detailed guidance 3a: Postponement - f or communicating with staff whose automatic enrolment has been postponed. Paragraphs 22-40 explain the different types of postponement notices.  Help clients prepare - find more information and resources to help your clients get ready for automatic enrolment.  Spotlight on AE - subscribe to The Pensions Regulator’s News-by-Email. Useful TPR links:

Automatic enrolment and seasonal summer workers 22 June 2015

Do you deal with seasonal workers such as fruit pickers? Do you know how they need to be treated for automatic enrolment purposes?

If you or your client employs seasonal workers, you need to make sure you are fully conversant with how they need to be treated under the automatic enrolment regulations. This can be a very complex task if a lot of people on a variety of contracts are employed, and there is frequent staff turnover. One option employers may wish to explore is postponement, which offers additional flexibility by enabling them to delay assessing staff for up to three months. However, The Pension Regulator’s research has shown that some employers mistakenly believe that postponement pushes back the actual date that the new duties start to apply to them. This is not the case; if you postpone from your staging date, your staging date does not change

You will find full details of how to use postponement on The Pensions Regulator’s website.

The checking who to enrol page in the business adviser area has information on assessing clients' staff, including more detailed guides for complex workforce scenarios.

New video on automatic enrolment duties for sole director companies 29 June 2015

The Pensions Regulator says that one of the subjects they are most frequently asked questions about is the duties of sole director companies.

So the Regulator has produced a short new video for business advisers to find out what the rules are and what clients need to do if they think they don’t have any automatic enrolment duties. The video also talks through a practical example and signposts to further scenarios so you can get to grips with how it works in practice.

There are more videos available on the Regulator’s YouTube channel .

Latest automatic enrolment advertising campaign The Regulator has also launched a national advertising campaign across radio and digital channels, targeting small and micro employers who have not already engaged with automatic enrolment.

CIPP Policy News Journal

25/04/2016, Page 321 of 453

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