NEST: In a Flap about Pensions?

1951: Love Nest - Joseph Newman

There is speculation that the Government will announce that the auto enrolment (NEST) will be delayed for firms with 40 or fewer staff, perhaps by a year. This is political kudos, which would be seen as helping small businesses, by reducing the cost of implementation and ongoing additional pension costs. As this is little more than a "quoted source" there is no substance to this information until the Treasury says something rather more concrete. On Tuesday we may find something in Mr Osbourne's Autumn statement, but until then, assume that nothing has changed.

If you would like to know when your firm has to comply with NEST (its currently intended staging date) then click this link. You will need the last two letters of the firms PAYE code if your firm has fewer than 50 staff.

There are now a growing number of organisations interested in running NEST qualifying schemes, even one from Denmark. The auto enrolment process is a fairly "involved" process. The largest employers - which includes the State institutions are due to begin NEST in October 2012. It isn't until a year later that firms with fewer than 1,000 staff must set a scheme up (or have a compliant one). At the moment, the earliest a small firm (fewer than 50 staff) would need to have implemented a scheme is August 2014. In practice The Pensions Regulator will contact the employer a year before their outlined staging date. If you need help with your pension at work or what to know about the implications for your own existing pensions do get in touch.

DT