One of the recurring themes in my life is recurring and constant attempts to explain to my two girls, Charlotte (13) and Sophie (5), what it was like growing up in the ’80s and ’90s.

Any attempt to explain any concept from the pre internet (and mobile phone) days is not the easiest gig in the world. It might be trying to explain book based encyclopedias or computer games on cassettes or the point of vinyl or having to be actually in your house when receiving a call, but try as I might my explanations are often met with looks of disinterest or confusion.

Now I love my kids more than life itself but I can’t pretend to get a little frustrated when trying to explain the value of completing a ‘rubix cube’ or the concept of bodypopping. Although they do like the theme tune to Fraggle Rock so I’m obviously doing something right!

However I’m yet to try to explain the concept of the ‘Pirate Music Cassette’

I remember there was a guy who sold them in our local market out of a maroon briefcase who had a table in our local market.

On the table there were copies of all of the latest albums and singles at a third of the cost of the Woolworths 5 minutes down the road. However it was clear they’d been taped on a double tape boombox and the cassette box covers looked like they’d been printed on a BBC Micro.

I remember when I was about 12 buying a single from the guy with the briefcase. I even remember the album I bought (Tasmin Archer – Great Expectations). However I also remember the fact that the audio quality was incredibly poor!

After that one experience I went back to paying full price for authentic music at my local Woolworths never to darken the stall of the guy in the market again! It just wasn’t worth the money I’d saved for the result I got…

Now in the world of pensions there are plenty of scammers who make promises they can’t keep. Now in the past these shoddy individuals have been particularly prominent by stealing (and I don’t use that term lightly) peoples hard earned pension savings…it’s something I’ve written about here.

However now unsuspecting employers are being scammed when attempting to comply with automatic enrolment.

You see there are certain unscrupulous individuals who have decided to set up an enterprise (and I use this term in it’s broadest sense) designed to see ‘exemption certificates’ to employers.

These certificates are being sold for £58 but have no real value. In the words of the pensions regulator:-

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While employers have been charged £58 for the certificates, the
documents are worthless – no such documents are produced or accepted
by TPR as evidence of automatic enrolment exemption.

Every individual or organisation in the UK that employs at least one
person has auto-enrolment duties. For some this will involve simply
informing TPR that they do not have any staff that qualify for
automatic enrolment. In other cases, employers will have to enrol some
or all of their staff in a workplace pension and make regular contributions.

Anyone who is offered the chance to buy a certificate of exemption or
any similar sounding document is being urged to decline and contact

TPR immediately.

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Therefore let me make a suggestion. If you’re an employer make sure you’re in a position where you’re aware of this particular scam but in addition to this get some decent advice from an expert.

I’d suggest that if you’re serious about not only complying but putting in place decent workplace benefits for your team it might be worth spending some money on a solution which works for you and your business as well as keeping you compliant.

The scam where worthless certificates are sold is the equivalent of buying an album and the tape ending up entirely blank. Whether you go for a highly compliant automatic enrolment solution or a cheaper ‘do enough to comply’ alternative…the choice as an employer is yours!

Feel free to give me us a call on 01708 606 202 or you can email us at  if you need any help…