Compliance spot checks are being carried out by The Pensions Regulator (TPR) on some of the UK’s largest employers to ensure thousands of staff continue to receive the pensions they are due.

TPR is inspecting a number of large employers who were among the first required to comply with automatic enrolment when the roll-out started in 2012. The short-notice inspections, which started in January this year, will continue in the coming months.

So far, several large firms including banks, local authorities, supermarkets and national charities have been visited to check on behalf of nearly half a million employees.

TPR’s Director of Automatic Enrolment, Darren Ryder said:

“Large employers led the way at the start of automatic enrolment by successfully meeting their new duties – and compliance soon became the norm for all employers. Compliance with the law remains high and these inspections help ensure that these employers are continuing to meet their ongoing duties, including re-enrolment. Millions of staff depend on large employers to do the right thing so that they do not miss out on the pensions they are entitled to.”

The compliance inspections follow a round of visits last spring to large employers to ensure they are complying correctly with their ongoing duties.

TPR will use information gathered from the inspections to identify any common themes and lessons to be learned. Statutory inspections to check compliance are mandatory for employers and TPR will take action if non-compliance is identified.