Changeworks Communications - Comment on today�s CIPD Survey

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August 31, 2011 - Commenting on today's Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development�s (CIPD) survey, Michael Slade, Managing Director of employment law specialist Bibby Consulting & Support, said:

"With the recent removal of the default retirement age and various proposals to reform pensions, it is hardly surprising that employees are confused about what their future options are. However, we are extremely concerned that more than half of them don't know that auto-enrolment into company pensions is becoming mandatory on a phased stage basis, over four years, from October 2012."

Slade added: �The Pensions Regulator is writing to all employers around 12 months before their staging date so that they know when to enrol their eligible jobholders automatically. Three months before the employers' staging date the Regulator will write again to remind them of the new duties and the need to register but we would encourage all employers to start thinking about these things immediately.�

The impending changes will require employers to enrol certain workers automatically into a pension scheme, make contributions on their workers� behalf, register with the Pensions Regulator and provide workers with certain information about the changes and how they will affect them. The specified information must be provided in writing and it is not sufficient to display a poster or have generic information on the company intranet or web page. It is for the employer to provide the right information to the right individual at the right time and to make sure that the information is complete and correct.

"We would advise all companies to make it a priority to give their employees the very latest information on their pension commitments," Michael Slade said, "not least because it will reduce the amount of complaints and potentially negative feedback received from staff, but also allow employers to comply with the duty placed upon them by the changes.

"Any company with workers who are affected by the changes need to make it their business to keep their workforce fully up-to-date with the very latest changes � anything less is just asking for trouble."

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