The Pensions Regulator has published a list of employers it has taken to court for not complying with their auto-enrolment duties.

It is the first time the regulator has included the list in its quarterly compliance and enforcement bulletin. In each of the cases, the regulator first issued the employers with an escalating penalty notice, which was not paid.

The list includes 13 employers who were issued with EPNs for a collective total of more than £220,000. They include both compliant businesses, and non-compliant businesses whose cases are being reviewed over the potential for further action.

In a bid to highlight bad behaviour, TPR has also published details of every employer that continues to ignore its auto-enrolment responsibilities despite having been issued with, and having paid, an EPN. So far the list includes 20 employers who have been given EPNs for a collective total of more than £60,000, which they have paid. However, despite having paid the EPNs, these employers continue to be non-compliant with their workplace pension duties.

Both lists included a spread of employers from across the UK, and features small and medium sized firms, across a range of industries and sectors.

TPR has warned that it will consider taking additional enforcement action against employers who remain non-compliant with their auto-enrolment duties, such as prosecution in appropriate cases in accordance with its published prosecution policy. It is hoped by TPR that by publishing the lists, employers will realise that large fines can be imposed on them if they don’t meet their auto-enrolment duties.

Commenting, TPR executive director of automatic enrolment Charles Counsell said: “Employers who wilfully refuse to become compliant should be in no doubt that we will take enforcement action against them, as these lists show.

“Automatic enrolment is not an option, it is the law. Allowing some employers to get away with non-compliance is not fair on the employees who are denied the workplace pensions they are entitled to and is not fair on the vast majority of businesses who have taken the time to meet their responsibilities. To date we have only had to bring court proceedings against a tiny proportion of employers, but every court case is one too many – and one that employers can easily avoid by becoming compliant.”

TPR intends to publish updated lists each quarter, alongside the publication of the compliance and enforcement quarterly bulletin, which has also revealed a large increase in the number of inspections of business premises carried out by TPR staff to check for compliance. A total of 224 inspections were carried out in the quarter, compared to the 57 in the whole of 2016.

TPR issued more than 14,502 fixed penalty notices (FPN) of £400 for auto-enrolment non-compliance to employers in the first three months of 2017, up from 2,919 FPNs the previous quarter – the largest total issued to date. A total of 2,517 EPNs were issued in the quarter, up from 870 in the last three months of 2016. This was also the highest quarterly EPN total. However, it said the increase is in line with the expansion in the number of UK employers who have automatic enrolment responsibilities.

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