Employers have been urged to proceed with automatically enrolling all their eligible staff despite the Department for Work and Pensions indicating several more groups of employees will be made exempt from the requirements.

The DWP published a consultation response last week, outlining its intention to lift the requirement for employers to auto-enrol some specific groups of staff for whom the move would not be appropriate.

Jelf Employee Benefits head of benefits strategy Steve Herbert said that while it is “fabulous” that employers will likely not have to auto-enrol these staff, legislation is unlikely to be in force before many of affected employers reach their staging states.

Herbert said some 27,400 employers are approaching their staging dates, and while the legislation provides for these new exemptions to come into force quite quickly it is still unlikely they will be in force earlier than the next two or three months.

“So my point is, if you get told by anyone that actually you don’t have to worry about that grouping, don’t worry about enrolling them – ignore it,” he said. “If you are about to stage, assume that anyone you think you should be auto-enrolling you will have to auto-enrol.”

Under the DWP’s proposals the rules would be relaxed for staff with tax-protected status or existing pension savings, those on the brink of leaving employment, those set to retire imminently, and those who recently cancelled membership after being contract joined.

The department said it wants to offer employers more flexibility, in line with its aim to make auto-enrolment as simple as possible to operate and communicate.

Exemptions would also be of benefit to staff for whom pension saving is not appropriate, the DWP said, saving employees the trouble of having to go through the process of opting-out after being enrolled.

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