Auto-enrolment is the future for advisers

Some other member-firms have decided they want nothing to do with auto-enrolment, although their reasons vary. For some, the return to corporate advice and pension administration, potentially for a wide range of employees with hugely variable personal and financial circumstances, takes them away from the clear client segmentation they have been working on these past few years.

The focus on delivering high-quality, high-value services to high net worth private clients has been a distinctive of many advice and planning firms, even before RDR began to focus minds on propositions, service delivery and fee structures.

Corporate advice, even to your existing business-owning private clients, has to be seen as a move in the opposite direction, and any management consultant will tell you that one of the biggest markers for business success is your unique selling proposition, your niche.

The focus on delivering high-quality, high-value services to high net worth private clients has been a distinctive of many advice and planning firms

But what was interesting was the number of advice firms that still haven’t decided what to do. For our members, the decision is somewhat complicated by the closeness of the relationship between the majority of firms and accountancy practices, whether informally or through formalised joint ventures.

If accountants are generally accepted to be the “go to” resource for employers wanting to comply with the AE rules and if they don’t want to give advice — or are probably not authorised to give advice — they are likely to want to refer their employer clients to someone who can advise them on the best scheme for their needs.

The Pensions Regulator has undertaken research on the levels of knowledge of the various high level and more detailed rules on AE. And guess what? IFAs — by which I think they technically mean all types of advisers — are the most knowledgeable. That’s more knowledgeable than human resources professionals, book-keepers, payroll administrators or even, whisper it, accountants.

This means that for those advisers who do wish to engage in this market, who see an opportunity to build fee-based professional connections with accountants, and an opportunity to future-proof their businesses by starting and building long-term relationships with clients of all ages, the future is bright.

Gill Cardy is network development director of ValidPath