Many small businesses will struggle to meet the deadline to have an auto-enrolment pension scheme in place for employees if the government does not extend the current deadline, according to the Independent’s David Prosser. On 1 January, employers with fewer than 30 members of staff must begin the detailed work of auto-enrolment compliance and, by April 2017, every employer must be up and running with auto-enrolment. However, research published in October by Now: Pensions found that 10% of small businesses are already missing their deadlines, with a further 25% only just hitting the mark. Furthermore, the Pension Regulator has no mandate to treat smaller employers less harshly than larger firms, and has already ruled out doing so.
