76% of employers notice pensions auto-enrolment admin burden
More than three-quarters (76%) of staged employers are now noticing an administrative burden caused by the impact of pensions auto-enrolment, according to research by Close Brothers Asset Management.
Its latest Business barometer survey, which surveyed more than 400 UK employers, found that this is an increase of 7% since September 2014.
In addition, 45% of respondents are now seeking to review their auto-enrolment processing system, up from 43% in September.
Of these, 32% plan to review their systems within the next year. A further 5% will also review their system if they change payroll provider.
The research also found that 17% of respondents believe there are areas to improve on to meet their compliance duties.
In September, 36% were confident they complied fully and had robust systems in place but this has now fallen to 34%.
Similarly, 46% of respondents now believe they are adequately dealing with auto-enrolment requirements, down from 48% in September 2014.
Maxine McIntyre, head of corporate proposition at Close Brothers Asset Management, said: “Perceptions of auto-enrolment are clearly shifting as employers begin to come to terms with the ongoing work involved in the process, with many finding that there is yet more to be done to be as efficient as possible.
“While the majority of those that have staged are still confident they have met requirements, there is growing concern more can be done and needs to be done to meet and exceed their employer duty.
“In the long-term, auto-enrolment will bring with it more business benefits than complications, once the initial administrative bridge has been crossed, and seeking the right support now will help ease initial difficulties
Petaurum Solutions Comment
An interesting set of survey results highlighting that Pensions Auto Enrolment (PAE) isn’t simply about pensions. With many SME businesses being required to implement PAE in the coming months it is critical that all elements are considered when choosing suppliers or providers. For example do you have a data collection system in place to capture all the data required to assess your employees each pay period, do you have a way of assessing against the required PAE requirements, can you communicate effectively with employees on both yours and their obligations? All of these things will need to be in place before you can send any information to your pension provider. In many cases now is the time to assess HR-Payroll systems and processes to understand whether you can meet the above criteria as upgrades and additional resources will add to the costs of administering PAE.
There is a simple cost effective alternative, with the Petaurum Solutions SME fixed price PAE solution in your business you will have access to the best in class assessment tools and communication tools ensuring not only are you assessing employees effectively you are also communicating to them ensuring full compliance. We also provide within the price a full review of your policies and employment contracts to ensure when implementing PAE these reflect the changes along with a full engagement plan and materials to ensure your implementation is a success and drives the desired outcomes for your business. After implementation we will support you for three years to ensure as the legislation changes you are kept up to date and remain compliant.
All of this leaves you safe in the knowledge that you are fully compliant with the legislation, have a transparent costing model to help forecast the cost of implementation and ongoing administration, we can even help here by providing easy payment options leaving you to do what you do best manage your business. Why not find out more contact us.
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