The independent review recommended that auto-enrolment and NEST should proceed. It also made a number of recommendations that will make life easier for employers, coupled with some recommendations around the regulatory landscape that they saw as obstacles to the intentions of the reforms.

On 27 October 2010 in a written ministerial statement the Government accepted all the recommendations of the independent review. They will now proceed on that basis. This gives us clarity on the changes to the workplace pension environment from 2012, and the key points are outlined below.

• From October 2012 there will be monthly (apart from December in each year) staging dates from which employers have to auto-enrol their employees into a Qualifying Pension Scheme. By October 2015 most employers will have had their staging date.
• Larger employers will be able to auto-enrol earlier than October 2012; as early as July 2012 if they want.
• A staging date is determined by the number of employees. The greater the number, the earlier the staging date.
• A Qualifying Pension Scheme is one that meets minimum standards, ie from October 2017 the employer pays 3% band earnings, employee 4% with 1% tax relief. These contribution levels are phased in over three stages, ie employer pays 1% until the end of the 2015/16 tax year, 2% in 2016/17 and 3% thereafter.
• The employer can also certify that he has a Qualifying Pension Scheme if pensionable pay definition is used from the first pound of earnings and either:
  1. total contributions for each member are at least 9% of which the employer pays at least 4%,or
  2. total contributions for each member are at least 8%, with at least 3% being paid by the employer and pensionable pay is at least 85% total pay in aggregate across the scheme, or.
  3. total contributions are at least 7% and pensionable pay is total pay.
• Band earnings are those between £5,035 and £33,540 (in 2006/07 tax year terms).
• Employees have to be auto-enrolled into the scheme from age 22 if they have earnings over £7,475 (in 2011/12 tax year terms), have completed three months’ service and have not attained state pension age. During the three-month waiting period employees can insist the employer includes them in the scheme for full contributions.
• Employers must notify existing members within two months of the auto enrolment date that the scheme is a Qualifying Scheme and supply details of that scheme. That scheme does not necessarily have to be the scheme used to auto-enrol non scheme members.
• The auto-enrolment process is designed to create momentum to join. The employer commits an offence if he encourages employees not to join. The opt-out process has a number of hurdles so that only the determined will not join the scheme or remain members of the scheme.
• The provider must keep records of opt-outs for the Pensions Regulator to audit.
• The auto-enrolment process must be repeated for opt-outs every three years within a six-month window. 
• The employer must certify to the Pensions Regulator what scheme(s) he is using as the Qualifying Scheme(s).
• NEST is a defined contribution registered occupational scheme that can be used by employers as their Qualifying Scheme.
• The Pensions Regulator will advise small employers that NEST has been designed for them.
• The maximum contribution that can be paid to NEST is £3,600 per annum. This maximum should be removed as part of the 2017 government review.
• Transfers into and out of NEST are not permitted. Again this restriction should be removed in as part of the 2017 government review.

• Department for Work and Pensions to provide maximum possible comfort to employers who use NEST or a stakeholder to discharge their responsibilities.
• The Government and regulators should review transfer regulations with some urgency to make it easier to move pension pots.
• The Government should, as a matter of urgency, review the scope for regulatory arbitrage between trust-based and contract-based regulatory regimes.
• The Government should review whether the existing regulatory regime for defined contribution workplace pensions remains appropriate in the post auto-enrolment world.