Business owners from Staffordshire and beyond learned more about pensions and auto-enrolment at an event held by Slaters Accountants and Richard Jacobs Pensions.

Financial experts from the two Newcastle-under-Lyme companies are working in partnership to ensure businesses are fully briefed on their obligations to provide workplace pensions.

Emily Jacobs, Director of Richard Jacobs Pensions and Trustee Services, gave advice to business owners and managers at the first of a number of joint seminars planned by the two financial firms.

“It is important that accountants are providing advice to their clients on auto-enrolment and we, therefore, jumped at the chance of working with Slaters to offer guidance,” said Emily.

“There was a great response to the seminar, with 14 businesses attending the event in the Gordon Banks suite at the Britannia Stadium.”

Emily said that the auto-enrolment process was now at a crucial stage as all but the newest employers will now have their staging date.

“Employers should have received a letter with their auto-enrolment code on it. If you cannot find this letter then you must contact the Pensions Regulator.

“All employers have a duty to provide all employees with the chance to pay in to a pension scheme.

“Failure to comply can lead to a fixed penalty notice being issued. The initial fine is £400 but this can be followed by escalating notices at a daily rate of £50 to £10,000, depending on the number of staff in a business.”

The seminar included a briefing on the implications of auto-enrolment on payroll services.

Steve Slater, of Slaters Accountants, said: “It was great to bring in Richard Jacobs Pensions to provide expert analysis for our clients.

“We have a duty of care to our clients to provide them with both the information and options about their obligations for auto-enrolment. As their accountant we believe it is our role to support them during this time of change in the pensions’ regulations. This is the first seminar our company has done and it proved to be extremely worthwhile.”

ENDS

For media enquiries contact Nigel Howle, by telephone on 0776 2043436 or email [email protected].

Notes to Editors:

Richard Jacobs Pension & Trustee Services Ltd was established in 1992 and operates from offices at Brindley Court, Lymedale Business Park, Newcastle-under-Lyme.

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Based at London Road, Chesterton Newcastle-under-Lyme, Slaters Accountants specialises in dealing with all aspects of work for owner managed businesses. The company was established by Stephen Slater in 2000.

http://www.slatersca.co.uk/​