Belfast-based provider, Workers Pension Trust, announced that it has now enrolled more than 35,000 members across 2,700 organisations in Northern Ireland onto its auto-enrolment scheme.

This is a significant achievement for Workers Pension Trust, a not-for-profit organisation which also recently celebrated being the first pension provider based in Northern Ireland to be awarded Master Trust Assurance accreditation, recognising the exceptionally high standard of its scheme.

Iain Ferguson, Business Development Manager at Workers Pension Trust, comments:  “We are delighted to have reached this milestone which further affirms our position as the largest private sector pension scheme based in Northern Ireland. More than 2,700 companies from a wide range of sectors across the Province have entrusted us to look after the pension needs of their employees and we have the experience to guide employers through every step of the process.

“We set up Workers Pension Trust as an auto-enrolment solution when the workplace pension legislation was introduced in 2012 and, as a not-for-profit organisation, we have two main objectives. We aim to help thousands of people to start saving towards their retirement and make the enrolment process as easy as possible for local businesses.  We have been operating a similar multi-employer pension scheme for the local construction industry since 1982 and we were able to draw on that experience, to develop a scheme which not only complies fully with the regulations but is also simple and user friendly for employers.

“Reaching this member milestone, along with the achievement of the Master Trust accreditation, is testament to the standard of our auto-enrolment solution. We are pleased that Workers Pension Trust continues to go from strength to strength, with more and more people joining the scheme every day,” he added.

By the end of 2017, all businesses in Northern Ireland, regardless of their size, will have reached their staging date to have a pension scheme in place for employees. Larger firms that are approaching their three year anniversary of auto-enrolment will also be required to carry out re-enrolment duties and will have the opportunity to re-evaluate the levels of service and support offered by their current provider.

Iain continues:  “We have been working with companies of all sizes for the last five years and have set up workplace pensions for many well-known, local firms. Currently, we are engaging with smaller businesses that are just beginning their auto-enrolment journey. However, we are also perfectly placed to accept transfers from the larger companies that are reaching re-enrolment dates and are not happy with their current provider.”

Workers Pension Trust is the largest Northern Ireland based pension scheme that is open to all businesses across the UK and is listed on the Pension Regulator's website.

For more information on the auto-enrolment delivery programme provided by Workers Pension Trust, please contact Iain Ferguson on 028 9087 7142 or iainf@workerspensiontrust.co.uk