A contract of employment does not have to be a written document. In what circumstances would the regulator consider that an implied contract of employment exists and the company should have carried out automatic enrolment duties for the director?

You can read The Pensions Regulator’s approach to the enforcement of automatic enrolment duties in the compliance and enforcement section of our website.

In the event that:

• we were investigating a director-only company for a failure to carry out any of their automatic enrolment duties, and
• there is no written contract of employment or other evidence of an intention to create an employer/worker relationship, between the company and a director or directors,

we will not, as part of our approach, seek to argue that an implied contract of employment exists.

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