What are Secondary Pensions?
The Secondary Pensions Law was introduced to enable islanders of working age to save more for their retirement so that they won't have to rely solely on the State Pension and tax-funded welfare benefits later in life. Employees may be able to opt out of the scheme should they wish to do so and further details about doing this can be found below.
What happens if employers don't want to take part?
Employers cannot choose whether they want to set up a pension or not, under the legislation they are required to provide a suitable pension scheme and automatically enrol any Designated Employees. If an employee isn't deemed a Designated Employee but meets the eligibility criteria, then they can ask to be enrolled into the pension scheme ("a Voluntary Employee"). The employer must enrol Voluntary Employees, deduct employee contributions from their pay and pay this into the pension scheme. An employer is not required under the Secondary Pension Law to make employer contributions in respect of Voluntary Employees but may choose to. If an employer fails in the requirements under the Law, they could be subject to penalties and this could include fines, imprisonment, or both.
