Simon Belton, head of pensions policy at the Spirit Pub Company, which operates brands including Wacky Warehouse, Taylor Walker and Fayre and Square, told delegates: “Our staging date for auto-enrolment is in February 2013. When you strip it back, we are less than a year away from the start of auto-enrolment, and this time next year the pensions advisers will be maxed out – as will NEST – so you need to get on with it now. We need to set an example as a large employer.”
NEST (National Employee Savings Trust) schemes have been commissioned by the Government as a savings option whereby employers pay 3% and staff pay 4% of their earnings into the pensions fund, following auto-enrolment. Employees will receive a further 1% contribution through tax savings.
The company, which employs 16,000 staff in its bars and restaurants, as well as 3,000 in its head office, currently has a stakeholder scheme for its team members in branches and a salary sacrifice arrangement for head office employees.
Belton added that few staff outside its head office were engaged with the existing pension and although it has not yet implemented an auto-enrolment arrangement for them, it has already set plans in place for a NEST arrangement, believing this to be the most appropriate option for an hourly paid workforce with a high turnover of staff.
“We need to communicate with staff early on,” Belton added. “We can’t use emails and text messages to restaurant and bar staff so we are using payslips, visual posters and the support of the NEST Corporation to communicate. There is no right or wrong solution, depending on the employer.”
