Hotels gear up for pensions provision

Almost all hotels across the UK have set up new pension schemes or revised existing ones in response to the Government's new stakeholder pensions legislation.

According to a report from accountants KPMG, 98% of hotels in the UK are fully prepared for the new legislation, which takes effect on 8 October.

Following the introduction of stakeholder pensions earlier this year, the hotel sector was highlighted as one of the worst-prepared areas.

A Prudential report published in July found that only 4% of hotel and restaurant companies had stakeholder pension schemes in place. By the end of August, almost half of all UK hospitality businesses were still unaware they had to have schemes in place by October.

But, since then, many hotels seem to have acted quickly to get in line with the regulations.

David Fairs, a pensions specialist at KPMG, said: "The hotel industry has been extremely proactive in complying with the new stakeholder legislation… employees will now benefit from access to pension provision, which is a real bonus for casual workers who were previously not included in pension schemes."

Companies that fail to have schemes in place by 8 October could face fines of up to £50,000.