Explanatory note

These Regulations amend the Employers’ Duties (Implementation) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2010 in relation to the date from which the duties to automatically enrol a worker into a pension scheme under the Pensions (No. 2) Act (Northern Ireland) 2008 (“the 2008 Act”) first apply to an employer.

Regulation 2(3)(b) changes the date from which the duties first apply to an employer that pays PAYE income, and first did so on or after 1st October 2017, to the date on which such an employer’s first worker starts work.

Regulation 2(3)(c) changes the date from which the duties first apply to an employer who does not have a PAYE scheme after 1st April 2017 to the date on which such an employer’s first worker starts work.

Regulation 2(4) inserts provision to enable an employer that employs its first worker after 1st April 2017 (in the case of an employer who does not have a PAYE scheme) or on or after 1st October 2017 (in the case of a PAYE income paying employer) to defer the date from which the automatic enrolment duties apply to new workers (inserted regulation 4B(1)) and workers who become jobholders under section 3 of the 2008 Act (inserted regulation 4B(2)).

Regulation 2(4) also makes provision to enable an employer to defer the date from which the duties under sections 2 to 9 of the 2008 Act apply for up to three months from the date that the worker starts work for the employer (in the case of inserted regulation 4B(1)) and from the date that the worker becomes a jobholder under section 3 of the 2008 Act (in the case of inserted regulation 4B(2)).

Regulation 2(4) makes further provision (by inserting regulation 4C) in relation to the various requirements of any notice to defer given under inserted regulation 4B and the different circumstances in which the different requirements apply.

An assessment of the impact of these Regulations is detailed in a Regulatory Impact Assessment, a copy of which is laid in the Business Office and the Library of the Northern Ireland Assembly. Copies of the Assessment are available from the Department for Communities, Social Security Policy and Legislation Division, Level 8, Causeway Exchange, 1-7 Bedford Street, Belfast BT2 7EG or from the website: https://www.communities-ni.gov.uk/articles/pension-information. A copy of the Assessment is also annexed to the Explanatory Memorandum which is available alongside this Statutory Rule on the website:http://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisr