Regulator prosecutes over auto-enrolment
A bus company and its managing director are the defendants in The Pensions Regulator’s first prosecution over auto-enrolment into pensions.
Stotts Tours (Oldham) Limited is accused of failing to comply with the law on automatic enrolment in respect of 36 members of staff. Managing director Alan Stott is accused of either consenting or conniving in the bus company’s offence, or allowing the offence to be committed by neglect.
The bus company and Stott have been summonsed to appear at Brighton Magistrates’ Court on 4 October. They face eight charges of wilfully failing to comply with the company’s duties under section 3(2) of the Pensions Act 2008, contrary to section 45 of the Act in the case of Stotts Tours (Oldham) and contrary to section 46 of the Act in the case of Stott.
By February 2018, all employers will be covered by the statutory requirement to auto-enrol workers into pension schemes.
Auto-enrolment legislation is enforced by The Pensions Regulator. Its formal powers include issuing compliance notices, conducting inspections and issuing penalty fines to employers.
However, The Pensions Regulator can also initiate criminal proceedings against employers that “wilfully fail to comply” with the legislation, as well as directors who are implicated in any failure to comply with the law.