Employers Risk Diminishing Credit scores ignoring auto enrolment penalty notices
In the last quarter, 10,000 employers were taken legal action against for Auto Enrolment failures. The Pensions Regulator has reported that the number of Escalating Penalty Notices nearly doubled. The doubling of figures was from October to December in 2016.
In a recent report The Pensions Regulator stated “We are beginning to see the first employers receive County Court Judgements (CCJ) for failure to pay their auto enrolment fines”. This happens when penalty notices that are sent to businesses are consistently ignored.
Credit Score
If businesses don’t pay within 30 days of receiving a CCJ, it will appear on their credit record for six years, possibly affecting their ability to borrow money for their business in the future.
There has also been an increase in the number of people appealing their fines at a tribunal, and yet to date, no employer has been able to show they had a reasonable excuse for failing to comply.
So, our advice to all employers is simple. Don’t ignore any notices that you receive from The Pensions Regulator and even more importantly, don’t put yourself in that position in the first place. All employers have plenty of time to arrange their pension scheme to ensure they meet their staging date and if you are unsure of your deadline simply input your company payroll number into The Pensions Regulator website.
How we can help
If you require any assistance or help with Auto Enrolment or would simply like a chat with one of our Independent Financial Advisors, please email us at [email protected] or contact our Brighton Hove office on 01273 208813.
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