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Pensions auto-enrolment - new timetable released

8 February 2012

As promised the Government has issued a revised timetable for when employers of all sizes must start enrolling their staff in a workplace pension.

The revised timetable has been issued following an announcement in November that small businesses would be given more time to prepare for auto-enrolment. For those employers with 250 or more employees, there is no change to the date when they are due to start enrolling their staff.

The timetable for employers to begin enrolling their staff starts with the largest firms first, followed by medium, then small companies.

Auto-enrolment will begin as expected in October 2012. All existing firms will have enrolled their staff by April 2017, followed by all new employers by February 2018.

The level of pension contributions will be phased in over time to help employers and individuals adjust. Full contributions of 3% will have to be paid from 1 October 2018 (delayed from 1 October 2017).

The table below sets out the revised auto-enrolment dates for all employer sizes.

Employer size (by PAYE scheme size) or other description	Auto-enrolment duty date
	From	To
250 or more members	1 October 2012	1 February 2014
50 to 249 members	1 April 2014	1 April 2015
Test tranche for less than 30 members	1 June 2015	30 June 2015
30 to 49 members	1 August 2015	1 October 2015
Less than 30 members	1 January 2016	1 April 2017
Employers without PAYE schemes	1 April 2017	- - -
New employers Apr 2012 to Mar 2013	1 May 2017	- - -
New employers Apr 2013 to Mar 2014	1 July 2017	- - -
New employers Apr 2014 to Mar 2015	1 August 2017	- - -
New employers Apr 2015 to Dec 2015	1 October 2017	- - -
New employers Jan 2016 to Sep 2016	1 November 2017	- - -
New employers Oct 2016 to Jun 2017	1 January 2018	- - -
New employers Jul 2017 to Sep 2017	1 February 2018	- - -
New employers Oct 2017	Immediate duty	- - -

Act now
Although your auto-enrolment duty date may seem like a long way off you should plan ahead. You need to be prepared for the increase in costs and you should also consider the possibility of introducing a salary sacrifice.

If you have any questions about the impact of pensions auto-enrolment on your business please speak to Stephen Dick on 01242 680000 or email stephen.dick@hazlewoods.co.uk.

Stephen Dick
Partner