Reports suggest Govt to delay auto-enrolment for small firms

25 November 2011 8:53 am | By Paul McMillan

The Government is set to delay the introduction of auto-enrolment for small firms by one year, according to the Daily Mail.

The paper reports the Government will announce in its autumn statement on Tuesday that firms with less than 40 employees will be given an extra year to comply with the new rules.

Under the current proposals, the biggest employers must enrol staff into a company pension scheme from October 2012. Smaller firms of less than 50 are due to begin a staged auto-enrolment in March 2014 with all small firms auto-enrolled by September 2016.

However, the Mail says the Government has decided to put the deadline for small firms back one year.

In October, Money Marketing revealed the Government was considering an extension on the automatic-enrolment phasing-in period for small firms due to concerns about their growth prospects. Policymakers have been worried about the impact of the auto-enrolment reforms on small businesses given the current economic conditions.

The Institute of Directors has called for auto-enrolment for all firms to be delayed until 2014.

The Department for Work and Pensions declined to comment.

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