The National Employment Savings Trust has seen 400 employers join each day as hundreds of thousands of small businesses approach their staging dates.
It has been claimed that between January 2016 and March 2018, the number of employers reaching their staging date will go up tenfold, averaging more than 100,000 a quarter and reaching more than 200,000 in the first few months of 2017.
Paul Budgen, head of business development at Nest, said: “While it is too early to say how many employers will use us, so far this year around 400 employers have been joining each day.
“In January 2015 it wasn’t uncommon to have 40 employers a day complete our setup, which demonstrates the increase in volumes Nest is experiencing.
“Nest was set up to support the roll out of auto enrolment and has been built for scale, so we are ready to accept as many of the employers now coming through as want to use us.”
In November the National Audit Office warned Nest might not become financially self-sustaining.
A report said that in the 12 months to 31 March 2015, Nest reported income of £18.5m and incurred expenditure of £98.7m, with the funding deficit being met by a £387m loan from the Department for Work and Pensions.
The provider would have needed funds under management of £20bn - compared to the funds it had of £420m - to meet its costs, but Robert Devereux, the permanent secretary of the DWP, said he is “not fretting” about the loan.
Mr Budgen said advisers would have an important role to play in bringing employers to Nest as auto-enrolment continues. More than 5,000 organisations have signed up to Nest Connect, its free online service for advisers, with a “significant proportion” of these being advisers.
“Over 10,000 Nest employers are linked to an adviser or other third party using our free Nest Connect service so far and this number is likely to rise significantly over the coming years.
“Our research suggests that nearly three quarters of small and micros plan to enlist the help of a third party for auto enrolment.
“We’ve seen it said that there is no role for advisers in auto-enrolment. That is not what we are experiencing. Hundreds of Nest Connectors are advisers.”
Providers also agreed this week that taking advantage of this year’s surge in small employers needing help with their staging date could bring in the additional revenue required to guarantee advisory firms’ futures.
Adviser view
William Annison, an employee benefits consultant at Midlands-based HWWA Consultants, said: “The increased number of employers contacting us has been unbelievable. The number of enquiries we have had are almost at the level that we haven’t been able to cope.
“Businesses are juggling so many balls that when you have got a deadline that’s in the next year you tend to think that you will leave it.”
