Inspectors from The Pensions Regulator (TPR) are to carry out from this week ‘short-notice’ inspections of employers who are suspected of flouting their automatic enrolment pension duties.

They will be looking in particular for persistent offenders.

TPR will use its own data to pinpoint employers who are suspected of breaking the law, including those who fail to put staff into a pension scheme or who make no, or incorrect, pension contributions.

The regulator points out that it is mandatory for employers to take part in the inspections and that obstruction of an inspector and failing to provide information when required to do so are criminal offences. Non-compliance could also result in fines or court action.

TPR’s director of automatic enrolment Darren Ryder said: “TPR is increasingly led by our data and intelligence streams which enable us to detect potential non-compliance and take swift action against individual employers. This allows us to target our resources in a very focused way as part of our role to protect pension savers.

“We know the vast majority of employers are doing the right thing for their staff, however there are a small minority who persistently ignore their responsibilities. They can expect a knock at the door from us and enforcement action.”

The inspections will start this week and continue over the summer across the UK. Previous rounds of spot checks targeted employers by region, from at-risk business sectors and from random test samples – as well as employers where there was evidence of non-compliance.

TPR will also be directly contacting other employers suspected of non-compliance by phone to validate the information held related to them meeting their duties and to ensure they are complying fully.