Employment Savings Trust (NEST) and also into the contribution limits (currently set at £4,200 per annum). These reviews were originally not going to take place until 2017 by which time all employers would be automatically enrolling eligible employees. Amendments will now have to be considered before the Bill can go through the final stage and receive Royal Assent.
PENSIONS BILL AMENDMENTS AGREED 31 October 2011
After passing the 3rd reading last week, the Pensions Bill has been playing ‘ping pong’ between the House of Commons and the House of Lords to agree final amendments. All outstanding issues on the Bill have now been resolved (on 31 October). The next stage is Royal Assent, the final stage of the Bill’s passage through Parliament where it will become law. The date for Royal Assent is yet to be set. PENSIONS BILL IS NOW AN ACT OF LAW 4 November 2011 The Pensions Bill received Royal Assent today which now makes it the Pensions Act 2011, and officially an act of law. The four parts of the Bill include a range of measures related to pension provision. Key areas · Accelerates the existing timetable for increasing the State Pension age to 66 · Including the recent amendment to increase the timeline for men and women to reach an Spa of 66 in April 2020 instead of October 2020 as originally planned · Amends the legislative framework requiring employers to automatically enrol employees into a qualifying pension system and to make contributions to that scheme; amendments include: o An optional waiting period allowing the automatic enrolment date to be deferred for up to three months to help those employing short-term and seasonal staff; o Simplifying the process for employers to certify that their schemes meet requirements; o Greater flexibility to choose an automatic re-enrolment date three months either side of the three yearly re-enrolment date; and o Introducing a new higher earnings threshold for automatic enrolment set initially at £7, 475, to be reviewed every year. · Amends legislation providing for the indexation and revaluation of occupational pensions and payments from the Pension Protection Fund · Allows contributions to be taken towards the cost of providing personal pension benefits to members of Judicial Pension Schemes. The CIPP Policy team will be dissecting the Bill when it is published in its entirety and will update members accordingly with the details.
CIPP Policy News Journal
09/10/2012, Page 171 of 234
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