Lawyers and dotcoms risk fines as they miss stakeholder date

Nearly a third of solicitors firms and e-commerce companies
have not put stakeholder pension schemes in place by the 8 October deadline and
could face fines.

Research by Sedgwick Independent Financial Consultants shows
that only 70 per cent of solicitors firms and 65 per cent of e-commerce
companies have either introduced a stakeholder pension scheme or already have
an existing occupational or personal pension scheme.

All employers with five or more staff are required by law to
have introduced a stakeholder scheme by 8 October if they have no other pension
provision, or face
fines of up to £50,000.

Just over half of the 2,000 solicitors’ firms surveyed
already have a stakeholder scheme in place, as do 45 per cent of the 1,200 e-commerce businesses that took part in the
research.

The study reveals that 12 per cent of solicitors and 19 per
cent of e-commerce firms said they were "not interested" in talking about a stakeholder scheme.

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Dawn Johnson, director of IFA operations, said, "The
fact that nearly a third of companies in these two sectors have not signed up
to a stakeholder scheme is alarming given that the 8 October deadline is now
upon us."

By Ben Willmott.