Failure to comply with the Auto-enrolment rules
The costs to businesses of failing to comply are considerable, including:
Fines – The legislation imposes fines to those companies who fail to comply. These fines are both high and cumulative – potentially doubling what would have been the cost to the employer had appropriate compliance measures been undertaken.
Reputational Damage – If problems arise there could be serious reputational damage to your Client’s corporate brand.
Operational Costs – The costs of unwinding mistakes with contributions, incorrect communications and other administrative errors will be highly time consuming.
Custodial Sentence – Wilful non-compliance could lead to criminal prosecution.
Our view is that The Pensions Regulator (TPR) is going to look to make high profile examples out of the different Employer sizes encompassed by the varying Staging Dates. Compliance now is certainly the easier route, as after any of the above sanctions, the business must comply in any event.