>Chris is a partner in the Employment Law Group of the Arthur Cox Belfast Office in Northern Ireland.
Chris has extensive experience dealing with both contentious and non-contentious employment law matters. Chris advises a range of employers on all aspects of employment law including executive appointments, severance, grievances, disciplinary issues and trade union matters. Chris has represented clients before the Industrial Tribunal, Fair Employment Tribunal and the Court of Appeal in Northern Ireland in employment litigation such as unfair dismissal, equality/discrimination and whistleblowing. Chris’ practice area includes advisory work and corporate transactions.
Are Employers Legally Obligated to Enrol their Employees into a Workplace Pension Scheme?
There is speculation that the UK is risking a “retirement timebomb” if more people opt out of their pensions or lower their contributions to help offset the impact of the cost of living crisis in the UK. Almost half of large businesses have reported that some employees are opting out of a workplace pension scheme altogether while some employees are reducing their monthly pension contributions to help offset the impact of the crisis.
Under the Pensions (No. 2) Act (Northern Ireland) 2008 and the Pensions Act (Northern Ireland) 2012, employers must automatically enrol employees into a pension scheme and make contributions to their employees’ pensions on their behalf if they are eligible for automatic enrolment. However, employees can choose to opt-out by contacting their pension scheme provider directly. Employers are required to auto-enrol employees who are aged between 22 years old and the state pension age and who earn over the minimum earnings threshold (currently £10,000).
When an employer automatically enrols an employee into their workplace pension scheme, the employer should write to the employee detailing: the date at which the employee has been added to the scheme; the type of pension scheme and who runs it; how much the employer will contribute and how much the employee will contribute as well as how an employee can leave the scheme should they choose to do so. If an employee does not meet the criteria for automatic enrolment, they can still choose to join their employer’s pension scheme if they want to. However, an employer cannot refuse to allow an employee to enrol.
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