A change to workplace pensions was introduced in October 2012 and whilst most have kept half an eye on the changes I bet that the majority have taken their eye off completely.

It appears that thousands of small businesses are believed to have missed the legally binding deadline to introduce occupational pensions for their employees and it has been reported that The Pensions Regulator has started to dish out fines. The Pension Regulator checks fulfilment by comparing PAYE with auto enrolment data and can issue compliance notices, penalty notices and fined for those failing to adhere to the rules. The fixed penalty for non-compliance is £400 followed by daily penalties of between £50 and £10,000, depending on the number of employees.

Take this obligation and add it to the newly introduced RTI (Real Time Information) submission requirements of HM Revenue & Customs, the introduction of shared parental leave amongst many other obligations and you can understand why a number of businesses are outsourcing their payroll function. If you’re lucky enough to have an accountant that processes your payroll, you should still ensure that they are equipped to manage your auto-enrolment, RTI and other legislative requirements. Has your payroll provider told you what your staging date is?

You can find your staging date by entering your PAYE reference HERE

SeaMount Business Services Ltd have partnered with an independent pension provider who can walk you through the process. This added to our Payroll function will take the heat off you, the employer and ensure that you’re fully compliant.

Click here to contact us to find out more information.