The Trade Union Congress (TUC) is calling on the government to ban employers from passing on the costs of taking advice from consultants on the implementation of their new legal duty to automatically enrol staff in a pension into a workplace pension. The largest employers need to start enrolling staff from this autumn, with other employers following in a phased programme finishing with the smallest employers in 2016. Many employers are seeking help from outside consultants to ensure that they are meeting their new pension duties. Large employers appear to be absorbing the costs of outside help, but some medium and small employers are planning to recoup the costs of outside consultancy from pension contributions - an additional charge on top of those already levied by pension providers. This practice, known as consultancy charging in the pensions world, is legal but in a letter to pensions minister Steve Webb the TUC is calling on him to use his powers to cap charges in pension schemes to outlaw consultancy charging. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) recently confirmed the compatibility of consultancy charging and automatic enrolment, following confusing guidance issued by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). The FSA had suggested that fees for advice taken out of pension contributions could lead to employers failing to satisfy rules on minimum contribution rates. Non compliance with these rules can lead to a series of fines from the Pensions Regulator. However, the DWP subsequently explained that this only applies where fees are paid before contributions enter an individual's pension pot - and therefore consultancy charging is lawful if fees are paid after contributions have entered the pension scheme. Whether or not staff will appreciate this distinction is highly debatable, says the TUC.
Read the full press release from the TUC
WORKPLACE PENSION STAKEHOLDER NEWSLETTER
8 August 2012
The Department for Work and Pensions have published their latest workplace pension stakeholder newsletter which details all the latest developments on automatic enrolment.
Click the link below to download the newsletter.
Workplace pension stakeholder newsletter - July 2012
Within the newsletter there is reference to ‘DWP Automatic Enrolment Logo Guidelines’ which are included in the attachments below.
DWP Automatic Enrolment logo guidelines
NAPF GUIDANCE ON AUTOMATIC ENROLMENT
15 August 2012
The National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) in association with JLT Benefits Solutions Ltd has published the 5th and 6th guides in its series ‘New rules for pension saving made simple’.
Businesses and HR professionals can make use of two new free guides to learn more about dealing with the new pension saving rules being introduced from October 2012.
CIPP Policy News Journal
12/04/2013, Page 245 of 362
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