Be prepared for pension auto-enrolment warns nhf

Under auto-enrolment, employers of all sizes have a new statutory duty to automatically enrol eligible workers into a work-based pension and make an employer contribution towards it, or risk a fine of up to £50,000. Auto-enrolment is being gradually rolled out, starting with the biggest employers first.  While some salons will need to auto-enrol in 2015, smaller employers will not need to begin auto-enrolling employees into a pension until 2016, 2017 or even 2018. Hilary Hall, Chief Executive of the National Hairdressers Federation said: “A recent survey showed that 83% of NHF members didn’t know their go-live date (known as their ‘staging date’), and 94% didn’t know what their employer contributions would be or what auto-enrolment would cost them. These results show that a worryingly high number of salon owners are therefore completely unprepared.” As a first step, employers need to go onto The Pensions Regulator website www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk  and find out their staging date.  Even if the date is still some time ahead, The Pensions Regulator has warned it can take months to put the right systems in place, particularly for small businesses that do not have HR or payroll support, employ people on a casual or part-time basis, have a high turnover of staff or pay on a weekly or daily basis, rather than monthly. The NHF is launching a bespoke NHF pension for members later this year, specifically to help salons meet their legal responsibilities under the new regime. A programme of events is planned to give employers information about their responsibilities and what they need to do as preparation.  And information is also freely available on the NHF website www.nhf.info.