Andy Agathangelou, Head of Business Development & Training of Pitmans Trustees Limited, delivered a very informative and lively session that involved a quiz. At the start of the presentation Andy asked whether he thought the audience felt that employers were under prepared for automatic enrolment. 90% thought employers were under prepared Some questions were also raised for which the CIPP will seek answers for and these were: According to the Pensions Regulator records must be retained for four years; as teachers and those with access to vulnerable people must be kept for 24 years does the four year rule apply to them or the 24 year rule? Also asked was it three years plus the current or four years of historical records? At the end of the session Andy asked everyone to put their “black hat” on and confirm what they thought would be the single most concern with the automatic enrolment process preparation for their organisation. The following should provide “food for thought” for anyone who is thinking about or currently planning for automatic enrolment. Black Hat what could go wrong? · Deadlines and knee jerk reactions, to find too late · Failure to achieve active membership in the timescales due to pay frequencies · Missing the staging date leading to non compliance · Non compliance could lead to industrial action · Pension provider not being ready · Implementing a process that does not meet the rules · IT not being able to do what it needs to do · Concern that processes are not robust · Pension scheme not being complaint and therefore both a financial risk and reputational risk to the company · Communication not right so breach rules · Software deemed fit for purpose but then not leading to a manual process · LGPS and teachers scheme being compliant · NEST corporation failing · A lack of understanding on how civil service pension fits with Automatic Enrolment · Short timescales to achieve obligations especially new starters · Written policies being incorrect but out with the control of payroll; need to understand what payroll is responsible · Interdepartmental communications not being joined up as to who is doing what · Increased workloads and therefore insufficient resource · IT and building of reports · In-house bespoke IT not able to cope · Pension scheme provider suddenly stating the scheme is not compliant and therefore needing a scheme change · Charity and third sector have a financial risk · Establishing the workforce criteria Automatic Enrolment CIPP Specialist Interest Group (SIG) Some members will be aware that the CIPP have a SIG for the Pensions Reform. We have decided to change the name of this SIG to Automatic Enrolment. It has come to light that some members may have thought that Pensions Reform covered every single change that is happening in the pensions world, when in reality it was set up to focus purely on automatic enrolment. It couldn’t be easier to register, just follow this link and click on the ‘Join a SIG’ tab on the right hand side of the screen. This sets up an email to register and all you need to do is give your membership number and the name of the SIG you would like to join i.e. Automatic
CIPP Policy News Journal
09/10/2012, Page 159 of 234
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker