The Pensions Regulator has launched a new online tool, designed to help employers re-enrol their staff into a workplace pension more quickly.
This launch comes as thousands of small and micro employers are due to reach their re-enrolment dates in the coming months.
Re-enrolment must be carried out every three years and it is a two-stage process.
First employers must check whether they have any staff to re-enrol and ensure those who are eligible are put back into a pension scheme. They must then complete and submit their re-declaration of compliance.
TPR says more than 176,000 employers have completed their re-declaration of compliance to date.
TPR says that while the vast majority of employers are carrying out re-enrolment successfully, some are failing to complete the task correctly — which could lead to a fine.
TPR director of automatic enrolment Darren Ryder says: “Re-enrolment gives staff who opted out of their workplace pension a fresh chance to start saving so it’s an important task.
“Automatic enrolment has led to millions of new savers and we want to ensure this success continues. Our online re-enrolment tool will help employers continue to meet their legal duties so that staff continue to have the opportunity to save.”
He adds that low opt-out rates mean the majority of employers will not have staff to re-enrol, however they must still complete their re-declaration of compliance to confirm they have checked whether they need to re-enrol any of their staff, even if none were re-enrolled.
This is a legal requirement and failure to both assess and re-enrol eligible staff and make a declaration could result in a fine.
The launch of the new re-enrolment tool comes at the same time as new TPR research shows business advisers continue to play a vital role in helping employers meet their automatic enrolment duties. Their Adviser Engagement with Automatic Enrolment Survey shows more than 92 per cent of advisers assist their small business clients with automatic enrolment.
