A survey carried out by the British Chamber of
Commerce has revealed that the majority of employers are unaware
of major reforms of workplace pension schemes. The new
Pensions Bill legislates that by 2012 all employees must be automatically
enrolled into a qualifying pension provision.
The Bill, resulting from the Pensions Act 2007 proposes the
duty on employers to automatically enrol jobholders into, and
to contribute to, a qualifying workplace pension scheme, with
a compliance regime set out to accompany the reforms.
The new ‘personal accounts’ have also been introduced.
These are aimed at moderate to low earners who currently do not
have access to a workplace pension scheme and are described as
a ‘simple, low-cost pension saving scheme’.
The survey revealed that just 16 percent of employers are aware
of the date that changes are set to come into force. It
is estimated that the changes will cost £1.6 billion to
the UK’s small and medium sized enterprises.
|
