Since May 2009 Aries has been tracking the development of the auto-enrolment regime. Although a slow-burner in comparison to the tempestuous pensions tax regime, this is set to have a much wider and more profound impact upon UK pensions than even this year's Finance Act. Its gestation has been prolonged by the change of government; we thought we could see the final picture emerging in January 2010, but the incoming Coalition decided on a review. This led to changes to the primary legislation (PA 2008) contained in the Pensions Bill, currently still before Parliament although the auto-enrolment provisions in Part 2 are now unlikely to be further amended before the Bill achieves Royal Assent in the autumn.

The latest development is a new consultation from the DWP on four sets of draft regulations: some to amend regs previously made and others to be made under powers in the current Bill. The amendments are primarily intended to put into effect the recommendations of the independent Making Automatic Enrolment Work (MAEW) Review; see Aries article. Alongside the consultation an Impact Assessment has also appeared.

In addition to the recommendations of the Review, the DWP is proposing a series of amendments to fine-tune the legislation "in order to ensure that the policy intention is fully and accurately expressed". Consequently the draft regulations are detailed, complex and voluminous. It is proposed that all will come into force in early 2012.

Auto-enrolment kicks off in earnest in October next year, but there is much groundwork still to be done. The Government's expressed priority now is to provide as much certainty as possible about the entirety of the framework for automatic enrolment for the many organisations engaged in active preparation.

The consultation also covers draft guidance for employers considering self-certification of an existing money purchase arrangement (occupational or personal; hybrid schemes are covered too). "Employer" in this context means the person who employs the worker and the person responsible for deducting and paying NICs and income tax to HMRC.

The certification test requires that the employer's scheme satisfy at least one of the following for each jobholder covered:

• tier 1 - at least a 9% contribution of the jobholder's pensionable earnings (inclusive of a 4% employer contribution), where pensionable earnings is at least equal to basic pay;
• tier 2 - at least an 8% contribution of the jobholder's pensionable earnings (inclusive of a 3% employer contribution) provided that the total pensionable earnings of all relevant jobholders to whom this tier applies in aggregate constitutes at least 85% of their total earnings, and pensionable earnings is at least equal to basic pay; and/or
• tier 3 - at least a 7% contribution of the jobholder's total earnings (inclusive of a 3% employer contribution). That is, all earnings must be pensionable.

Different tiers may be used for different sections of an employer's workforce. It is not a requirement that the certificate cover the entire workforce.

The task of providing detailed guidance on rest of the auto-enrolment process for the time being at least appears to have been delegated to The Pensions Regulator, which has published a series of guidance booklets.

The consultation will end on 11 October 2011.