The recent case of Birmingham business Crest Healthcare shows that although the vast majority of employers are giving their workers the pensions they’re entitled to, a small minority are not.

Our systems highlight cases of non-compliance for us to investigate and we remain committed to tackling those who are snubbing the law.

But, as the Crest Healthcare case demonstrated, we can be more effective if we get the assistance of those closest to rogue employers – whistleblowers among their victims.
In that specific case, a whistleblower alerted us to the fact that staff had been told that pension contributions were being paid by the employer when, in fact, a scheme hadn’t even been set up.

We investigated and as a result the company and its managing director now have criminal records and a total bill of more than £20,000 in fines and court costs. Importantly, their workers have the pensions they had been denied.

Whistleblowers play a vital role in helping us to identify those employers who are denying workers their rights.

We receive more than 80 reports every week from people who suspect employers are breaking the law on workplace pensions, leading directly to around 600 investigations in the last year.

I’d urge anyone who has suspicions that something at their business isn’t quite right, or who thinks their employer is non-compliant, to visit our website to tell us what they know.

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