Clock is ticking for business to be ready for compulsory pensions

Monday 15 April 2024

The roll out of a legal requirement to provide secondary pensions begins in less than three months, but there are fears some employers are not ready.

From July, any business with 26 or more employees must automatically enrol eligible employees into an approved pension scheme.

Three months later the requirement extends to those with 11 to 25 staff and more will then also be brought into the net until everyone is covered by October 2015.

"We're in the final few months before the legal requirement to provide a secondary pension comes into effect for larger employers. Most of the larger organisations will have already made the necessary preparations but for any that haven't, now is the time to do so," said Employment & Social Security President Peter Roffey.

"Looking ahead to 1st October 2024, when the duty to automatically enrol eligible employees into an approved pension scheme will apply to employers with 11 to 25
employees, I expect that there will be some that are yet to make a move.

"I encourage these employers to start preparing for secondary pensions now as the process can take weeks or months to complete. If employers already provide a
pension, they must check with their provider to ensure that their pension scheme complies with the secondary pensions legislation."

Most employees aged between 16 and State Pension Age will be eligible for automatic enrolment.

To ensure that everyone will have access to an affordable pension scheme, the States has helped establish Your Island Pension, which is governed independently by Sovereign Pension Services (CI) Limited.

Employers can select any qualifying pension scheme, but if their pension scheme is not made compulsory in their contracts of employment, they may also need to offer this scheme as an alternative.

Deputy Roffey will be speaking at the Chamber of Commerce event Beyond Savings: Shaping the Future of Financial Stability and Inclusion, on Wednesday 17th April, alongside Peter Neville and Helen Dean.

Mr Neville is the Founder and Chair of Guernsey Community Savings. Ms Dean CBE, CEO of Nest Pensions and the Chairperson of the YIP Governance Committee, is one of the architects of auto enrolment in the UK and responsible for bringing nine million workers into pension saving.

The event is targeted towards the business community.

For employee and employer guidance on secondary pensions please visit www.gov.gg/Secondary-Pensions.

For more information on the CoC talk, visit www.guernseychamber.com/events.