SMEs Hit With Auto-Enrolment Fines
A total of 16,218 fines have been issued to small businesses for not complying with auto-enrolment duties in the last year.
For employers with less than 30 employees, 9,089 penalties were issued with an additional 1,143 fines handed out to employers with 31 to 250 members of staff.
Larger businesses with more than 250 staff received just 61 fines, suggesting smaller firms are more likely to ignore their auto-enrolment duties.
A Freedom of Information Act (2000) request for data from the year to March 2017 revealed:
- businesses with less than 30 employees received an average fine of £540 for missing their duties
- employers with 31 to 250 staff were hit with an average penalty of £990.
Darren Ryder, director of auto-enrolment at the Pensions Regulator, said:
“There are more than 500,000 employers whose duties are still to begin over the coming months.
“I would urge each of them to check they know what they need to do and when they need to do it so they can seek our help if they need it.”
The deadline to complete your auto-enrolment duties is 5 months before your staging date, therefore it is a legal requirement to meet your responsibilities on time to avoid any penalties.
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