The director of the Finance & Technology Research Centre urged advisers to put more choice and knowledge in the hands of employers as he launched a ‘quality’ comparison service designed to help both parties navigate the auto-enrolment minefield.
Quality Analyser will be a free service for advisers and employee benefits consultants, accessible at www.advisersoftware.com when it goes live on 22 April.
It enables advisers to select features which matter most to their clients, from price to communications, and list them in order of priority.
The system then uses the data to draw up a detailed report, listing the best providers based on the chosen criteria.
Mr McKenna said: “This will give them the opportunity to showcase their knowledge and experience, highlighting all the issues that actually matter.
“Auto-enrolment is a complex subject and employers deserve to know all the factors that go into choosing the best possible provider for their needs.”
The service, which will be available on all operating systems, tablets and smartphones, also allows advisers to save templates of pre-selected criteria, which Mr McKenna said could be useful for networks seeking a “consistent” process for their members or for those advisers operating on a restricted basis.
The auto-enrolment module has also been given CPD accreditation by both the Personal Finance Society and Chartered Insurance Institute, allowing advisers to study auto-enrolment in depth and test themselves if they are new to the field.
The system also offers a protection module with a savings version due to be introduced in due course.
Keith Richards, chief executive officer at the Personal Finance Society, said the service came at a time when it was becoming more apparent that the Department for Work and Pensions was “wrong” to dismiss the role of advice in helping businesses.
He said: “When the DWP said there would be no need for advice, we knew intuitively at the time that this was wrong and our research has shown that small businesses want advice and, more importantly, are prepared to pay for it.
“That made us realise that advisers need more guidance and support on how to go through the process.
“Providers tell us that many advisers are phoning them and asking to explain the process. Clearly, it is incumbent on professional bodies to provide more effective support. This is a comprehensive and accessible service that advisers are calling out for.”
