More than 50,000 small businesses in Gwent and across Wales are to receive a letter from The Pensions Regulator urging them to prepare for new pension duties.

As part of an awareness campaign, the regulator is writing to every small employer in Wales to tell them the date their automatic enrolment legal duties come into effect – this is called the staging date. All employers have a staging date that is specific to them. The law also applies to all employers including those with one worker.

The mail out will also ask small business owners to supply email contact details to the regulator so it can provide them with regular reminders and updates as their individual staging date approaches. The letters will be sent in the next few months.

Last year, The Pensions Regulator, which is responsible for ensuring employers comply with their automatic enrolment duties, announced that five million workers had been automatically enrolled into a pension scheme by nearly 43,000 employers.

In the coming months and years, around 4 million more workers will be enrolled by small employers across the UK. Small employers are those with fewer than 50 workers – including those with one worker, for example a personal assistant.

The UK-wide letter campaign is to ensure that all small employers, including those with just one worker know that the law applies to them – even if their staging date is not for some time.

The Pension Regulator’s executive director of automatic enrolment, Charles Counsell said: “The letter now being sent nationwide is to ensure all small businesses know they will need to comply with the law and enrol their staff into a pension scheme.

“Research shows that the majority of employers think that automatic enrolment is a good idea so we know the majority will want to comply. Smaller businesses may be more likely to leave things to the last minute but doing this risks financial penalty.

“I am urging business owners in Wales to look out for the letter, visit the regulator’s website and prepare for what they will need to do and when.”

Once employers know their staging date, they can then use a handy time line planner tool on the regulator’s website, which has been updated to make it easier for email employers to use.

For more information visit www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/automatic-enrolment.