Stotts Tours (Oldham) and Alan Stott pleaded guilty to a total of 16 offences of wilfully failing to comply with the law on workplace pensions – the first such prosecution by The Pensions Regulator.

The company failed to comply with auto enrolment pension rules since June 2015, when it should have started putting all staff into a workplace pension and begun paying pension contributions. Auto enrolment pensions are compulsory for all employers although employees can opt out if they wish.

The Pensions Regulator found that 36 staff from Stotts Tours (Oldham) should have been put into a pension scheme. It decided that the company’s failure to comply with the law was deliberate and merited the criminal prosecution of both the company and the senior director, Stott.

Both Stotts Tours (Oldham) and Stott pleaded guilty to eight counts of wilful failure to comply with the automatic enrolment duty under section 3(2) of the Pensions Act 2008, contrary to section 45(1) of that Act, when their case was heard at Brighton Magistrates’ Court on 10 November.

The case was adjourned for sentencing at the same court on 14 December.

Darren Ryder, TPR’s director of automatic enrolment, said: ‘Dozens of staff at the company were entitled to workplace pensions but were denied them because their employer deliberately failed to set them up.

‘Automatic enrolment is not an option, it is the law. Employers should be in no doubt that if they wilfully refuse to become compliant they could end up with a criminal record – and will still have to give their staff the pensions they are due.’

TPR is separately pursuing Stotts Tours (Oldham) for £14,400 in civil fines imposed for non-compliance.