AUTO ENROLMENT PUZZLE

摘要

Over 100,000 small to medium (SME) and micro businesses have to start rolling out auto enrolment pensions from January 2016 when the staging dates for employees with less than 30 employees take effect. Small business owners from shop owners to graphic designers are suddenly responsible for enrolling their employees into a workplace pension. With low levels of awareness at this company level, figures from The Pensions Regulator (TPR) show that even the number of larger businesses fined for non-compliance is rising. As business advisers and providers of payroll services, accountants will be key in helping SMEs navigate the complexities of auto enrolment. At the same time, there are a number of key issues that small business owners need to consider. Even parts of the process thought to be 'basic' can cause problems for businesses, advisers and some payroll systems. Indeed for accountants, getting clients to engage with auto enrolment and understand some of the complex decisions they will have to make is an uphill battle. Do not underestimate how confusing auto enrolment can be.