Rowanmoor, a SSAS provider and a bespoke Sipp and Family Pension Trust (Family Sipp) operator, is calling on small businesses to check their payroll details and staging date sooner rather than later after a recent case of concern.
The company is keen to reiterate the need for business owners, particularly those that have grown out of the public sector, to verify their staging date after being recently approached by one small business that had spun out from the NHS.
Despite becoming a private company, the firm's pensions and payroll continued to be handled by the NHS under its PAYE reference number. When the deadline for auto-enrolment for the NHS scheme came around, the firm found that it was facing a fine for non-compliance with the auto-enrolment duties, as The Pensions Regulator was expecting its staff to be auto-enrolled at the same time as their former NHS colleagues.
Had the firm had its own PAYE reference number, being categorised as a small business, it would not have had to auto enrol until much later.
Rowanmoor Group helped the firm by liaising with The Pensions Regulator to amend its auto-enrolment staging date to March 2016.
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Many small businesses that have been spun out of the public sector, such as infrastructure companies, may also find themselves inadvertently failing to comply with the auto-enrolment requirements.
Janet Bower, consultancy administration manager at Rowanmoor, said: "This can't be an isolated example. There is a real need for small business owners to reassess their auto-enrolment conditions so as to avoid unexpected fines and costs.
"Businesses, particularly those that have spun out of the public sector, need to realise that they are responsible for checking their staging date by inputting their PAYE reference on the Regulator's website."