Nine in 10 firms want advice on pension reforms
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Nine in 10 UK firms intend to seek expert advice to help them understand the impact of the Government’s workplace pension reforms set to be introduced from 2012.
The Personal Accounts Delivery Authority commissioned interviews with more than 3,000 businesses across the UK and found small firms - those with 2 to 49 employees - are most likely to say they will seek help from accountants.
More than two-thirds say they will look to accountants to help them understand auto-enrolment and what they will need to do to comply.
For medium-sized firms - those with 50 to 499 employees – 56 per cent expect to seek help from a financial adviser. Five in 10 large firms – those with 500-10,000 employees – also expect to consult a financial adviser, with 43 per cent of large firms expected to turn to the services of employee benefits consultants.
Of firms with more than 10,000 employees, 77 per cent are most likely to consult EBCs than other intermediaries to help them meet their new duties.
Head of intermediary distribution Roy Porter says: “For many small firms, the introduction of automatic enrolment will be the first time they will need to provide an employee pension and make contributions. Ensuring they have access to the correct information will be crucial in helping them comply with the reforms.
“As our research shows, accountants and other intermediaries will have an extremely important role to play in helping their clients. They also have a part in dispelling some of the myths around the reforms. We often come across employers who wrongly think that Nest is their only option for meeting their automatic enrolment duties when the scheme is one of the options available to help employers meet this duty.
“Over the next year my team will be working with intermediaries around the country to provide information on Nest ahead of the scheme’s launch in 2011. We aim to raise awareness around how Nest can complement employers’ existing workplace pension provision and help them comply at low cost.”
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