Pensions reminder for employers of seasonal workers

The Pensions Regulator has warned farmers and growers they may face fines if found not to comply with their legal pension duties.

Agricultural employers with seasonal and temporary workers are some of the most likely to be affected and the regulator has launched an online campaign to raise awareness.

The law states that workers aged between 22 and state pension age and earning more than £833 a month must be set up with a pension scheme which their employer must pay into.

See also: Six-month window to top up NI payments for full state pension

Therefore, employers have been encouraged to check their legal automatic enrolment duties and read further guidance on employing staff on varying hours and payment rates.  

Sarah Howitt Jones, interim joint director of automatic enrolment at The Pensions Regulator, said: “We want to ensure every eligible worker is enrolled into a workplace pension scheme and gets the pension they are due.

Assess eligibility

“Even if your additional staff work for you for a few days or weeks, you must assess whether they are eligible to be enrolled into a pension scheme each time you pay them.

“And if they are, you must put them into a qualifying scheme and pay contributions.

“As your temporary workers may have variable hours and pay, your assessment of who to put into a pension scheme may take more time and effort.”

Employers can postpone the need to assess temporary workers if it is known that they will be working for less than a three-month period.

Ms Howitt Jones added: “We know the majority of employers in the agricultural and horticultural industry are doing the right thing for their staff, but for those that don’t, we may take enforcement action to protect savers.”