Auto-enrolment became compulsory for all existing businesses in April 2017, and all new business in the following months – that is just about 3 years ago now. 

Do you remember what your obligations under Auto-enrolment included?  Every 3 years you need to  

• Re-enrol staff who opted out of your pension scheme. 
• Re-declare your compliance with this legislation. 

What this means is that now is the time for both you and you staff to review your auto-enrolment scheme, so you can submit your re-declaration and avoid a fine. 

Some staff may have different dates for auto-enrolment, e.g. if they joined more recently, so you need a system that can note this information and advise you when their 3 years are up 

When the scheme was originally set up many had little understanding.  3 Years in then all should have more knowledge and staff may now want to join. 

With minimum wage increasing in April then more employees may become entitled to be auto enrolled. 

The pensions regulator has advised of common errors as follows: – 

• Forgetting to stop contributions for leavers of those who have opted out 
• Miscalculating qualifying earnings – e.g. missing bonuses 
• Forgetting to enrol staff when they reach their 22nd birthday 
• Calculating contributions incorrectly – i.e. not in line with scheme rules  

So, enlist payroll and HR teams to have systems in place and avoid fines.