Workplace Pension Reform

Steve Webb Excerpts

Monday 20th February 2012 Written Statements

[The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Steve Webb)]

Later today the Government will publish the consultation document “Automatic enrolment and European employers”. This addresses an issue that could place an unnecessary burden on employers to find a pension scheme into which they can automatically enrol dual-status workers—those who are simultaneously jobholders and qualifying persons.

A jobholder is a worker who is working or ordinarily works in Great Britain under the worker’s contract. A qualifying person is an individual whose place of work under contract is sufficiently located in an EEA state other than the UK so that the relationship with the employer is subject to the social and labour law relevant to the field of occupational pension schemes of the other EEA state.

The consultation proposes an exemption for employers from having to automatically enrol dual-status workers. The period of formal consultation will begin today and last for six weeks, ending on 2 April.

I would like to thank all those people and organisations who have offered their views and advice in response to our recent informal consultation, and hope that they will continue to do so now that consultation has moved on to a formal footing.

Draft regulations and an impact assessment will be published alongside the consultation document.

A copy of the consultation will be placed in the Library of both Houses and will be available later today on the Department’s website:

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/consultations/2012/.