Secondary pension scheme success to be revealed soon

The final stage of the roll-out was completed at the start of last month, with all employers now having to offer a secondary pension scheme to employees.

The new law was introduced to enable islanders of working age to save more for their retirement so that they will not have to rely solely on the state pension and tax-funded welfare benefits later in life. But staff are able to opt out if they wish.

The roll-out for large employers started in July 2024, with smaller businesses then phased into the programme. From 1 October even employers with one local employee must have a scheme.

Employment & Social Security president Tina Bury said while the scheme had now been live for all since the start of the month, it was not possible to yet know how many people were enrolled and how many had opted out.

‘This is due to how and when the data is collected,’ she said.

‘Every employer must submit a quarterly secondary pensions return electronically to the Revenue Service within 15 days of the end of the quarter.

‘The operative date for employers with two to five employees was 1 July 2025, therefore, the first returns from those employers were not due until mid-October.

‘The operative date for employers with one employee was 1 October 2025, therefore the first returns from those employers are not due until mid-January 2026.’

The committee plans to report on employee take-up once the data is available.

However, the law also allows employers to defer an employee’s enrolment for up to three months after the relevant operative date.

‘This does not require Revenue Service approval, so no data is available on the extent to which employers have chosen to defer enrolment by up to the permitted three months,’ Deputy Bury said.

‘Employers that defer enrolment are required to issue a notice of deferred enrolment to the employee by the relevant operative date. At this stage, the Revenue Service’s focus is very much on ensuring employers understand their obligations and take steps to comply, including backdating contributions for their staff if they have been late setting up their pension scheme.’

Employer checks to ensure schemes are available will fall within the existing framework of payroll audits that the Revenue Service’s compliance team undertakes.