Pensions

The entitlement to an occupational pension depends on the terms and conditions of the employment contract, but there have also been significant changes in pensions law over 2012-13, with the introduction of auto-enrolment. A new duty on all employers to auto-enrol eligible job-holders not already participating in a workplace pension into a qualifying scheme or the National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) is being implemented in stages. Trade unions were instrumental in bringing about auto-enrolment, which represents a radical and progressive step forward in UK pensions provision.

The new law requires every employer to automatically enrol workers into a workplace pension scheme if they:

• are aged between 22 and State Pension age;

• earn more than £8,105 a year;

• work in the UK.

This is called ‘automatic enrolment’. Beginning in October 2012, with workplaces of 120,000 or more, employers must gradually enrol all eligible workers into workplace pensions between 2012 and 2018. Existing schemes may already meet the minimum qualifying requirements of an auto-enrolment scheme.

Since 1 July 2012, it is against the law for any employer to:

• induce workers to opt out of a qualifying pension scheme;

• ask workers during the recruitment process if they plan to opt out; or

• treat workers detrimentally if they seek to enforce their pension rights.