“Auto Enrolment has little to do with pensions!”

Auto-Enrolment is about administration, communication, compliance and record keeping. Companies have to be prepared and ensure the changes required to systems are identified and acted on. They need to fully understand what is required of them, and to understand the duties associated with these new laws, which will be time consuming, complex to manage, and costly to administer.

In the 2 years to October 2014, 43,000 firms staged for Auto Enrolment. In 2015, 45,000 firms will stage and in 2016, approx. 45,000 firms will be due to stage every month.

The majority of SME's who've not yet staged believe that their accountants will help them. However, a recent survey of accountants revealed that less than 10% currently and a further 35% plan to deal with the issues and offer an Auto-Enrolment solution.

So who is going to help these firms?

And they will need help: in the 2 yrs to October 2014, The Pension Regulator issued 3 Penalty notices for initial £400 fines. In the following 3 months, 166 were issued, along with 1,139 compliance notices.

Auto enrolment provides well prepared Wealth Management IFAs with probably the largest new business opportunity of recent years. Every company in the UK needs help and advice and every one of these companies has directors and high earning individuals who may need advice/ planning with their personal finances.

Learning Objectives
• Clearer understanding of the background to Auto enrolment and the key requirements that will apply to the owners and employees of companies
• Understand the Pension Regulator key steps and how they can be used as a structure to achieve compliance with the regulations
• Ability to discuss these issues and outline solutions with your clients