Employers of temporary seasonal staff are being reminded they may risk a fine if they don’t comply with their legal pension duties. 

The warning comes from The Pensions Regulator (TPR) in an online campaign aimed at employers most likely to hire seasonal temporary workers, including those in the agricultural and horticultural industries.  

Social media posts featuring fruit pickers and farm labourers remind employers that if they are hiring temporary staff, they should ensure they check on their legal automatic enrolment  (AE) duties.  
 
“We want to ensure that every worker who is eligible under AE rules is enrolled into a workplace pension scheme and gets the pension they are due,” said Sarah Howitt Jones, Interim Joint Director of Automatic Enrolment at The Pensions Regulator. 
 
“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.  
 
“To support you, we have step by step guidance to help you ensure you are meeting your duties correctly.”  

Postponement  

If you have staff who you know will be working for you for less than three months, you can use postponement to delay assessing those employees. This pauses the employer duty to assess staff until the end of the three-month postponement period. 
 
Don’t hide from your pension duties ! 

“If you think you may be late in meeting your duties for your temporary staff, you should tell TPR immediately, so that we can provide support to help you comply,” adds Sarah.  

 “We know the majority of employers in the farming industry are doing the right thing for their staff, but for those that don’t, we may take enforcement action to protect savers.” 

“So don’t hide from your pension duties, check on your legal duties today.”  

* Check on the steps you need to take to assess and enrol seasonal or temporary staff.    

* Further guidance if you’re employing staff whose hours and pay will vary.