1.2 million UK businesses expected to seek advice on pension reforms
22/02/2010
Nine in 10 (90 per cent) UK firms intend to seek external expert advice to help them understand the impact of the Government's workplace pension reforms due to be introduced from 2012.
Forthcoming research from the Personal Accounts Delivery Authority (PADA), the body charged with delivering NEST (National Employment Savings Trust), a new national pension scheme being set up as part of the reforms, clearly indicates the important role intermediaries and other professionals have to play.
Small firms - those with 2 to 49 employees - are most likely to say they will seek guidance from accountants. More than two-thirds (67 per cent) say they will look to accountants to help them understand the onset of automatic enrolment and what they will need to do to comply.
For medium-sized firms - those with 50 to 499 employees - more than half (56 per cent) expect to seek help from a financial advisor. Five in 10 (54 per cent) of large firms - those with 500-10,000 employees - also expect to consult a financial advisor, with 43 per cent of large firms expected to turn to the services of employee benefits consultants (EBCs). 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.
The research, commissioned by PADA, involved interviews with more than 3,000 organisations across the UK to identify employer attitudes on seeking advice on pensions and the forthcoming reforms.
Roy Porter, Head of Intermediary Distribution, PADA, said: "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."
