A bus company and its managing director have been fined more than £60,000 after admitting that they deliberately tried to avoid providing their staff with a workplace pension.
Stotts Tours (Oldham) and Alan Stott pleaded guilty to 16 offences of wilfully failing to comply with the law on workplace pensions. It was the first such prosecution of this sort by The Pensions Regulator (TPR).
The bus company was ordered to pay a £27,000 fine, £7,400 costs and a £120 victim surcharge. Stott was ordered to pay a £4,455 fine and a £120 victim surcharge. This is in addition to the £14,400 in civil fines that the employer already owes for failing to comply with automatic enrolment (AE) legislation.
Further, the business must pay an estimated £10,000 in backdated pension contributions for its staff, as well as meet its ongoing pensions obligations.
‘Compliance with AE remains very high and so it’s extremely disappointing that a tiny minority of employers continue to flout the law by denying their staff the pensions they are entitled to,’ said Darren Ryder, TPR’s Director of Automatic Enrolment.
‘This case shows the cost to employers that failing to comply with automatic enrolment can bring – a bill of tens of thousands of pounds, a criminal conviction and a damaged reputation.’
Stotts Tours (Oldham) and Alan Stott pleaded guilty to 16 offences of wilfully failing to comply with the law on workplace pensions. It was the first such prosecution of this sort by The Pensions Regulator (TPR).
The bus company was ordered to pay a £27,000 fine, £7,400 costs and a £120 victim surcharge. Stott was ordered to pay a £4,455 fine and a £120 victim surcharge. This is in addition to the £14,400 in civil fines that the employer already owes for failing to comply with automatic enrolment (AE) legislation.
Further, the business must pay an estimated £10,000 in backdated pension contributions for its staff, as well as meet its ongoing pensions obligations.
