British businesses are more worried about auto-enrolment and a potential Brexit than any other issues, a survey by insolvency adviser trade body R3 has found.
Of the 500 large, medium and small businesses surveyed, 23 per cent listed these two issues among their top concerns.
SMEs with 11-50 employees were the most concerned about auto-enrolment, while the least concerned were very small businesses with five or fewer employees, followed by businesses with more than 250 employees.
Large businesses were by far the most concerned about the UK potentially voting to leave the UK, with 40 per cent saying it was a major worry and just over 20 per cent of SMEs listing it as a top concern.
Other prominent concerns included the introduction of quarterly tax reporting, the National Living Wage, the digitalisation of tax reporting, Universal Credit and the Apprenticeship Levy.
Adviser view:
Spencer Watt, director of Absolute Financial Management, said many of the small businesses he advises are “very fearful” about auto-enrolment.
He said a major challenge relates to payroll, which he described as an “absolute nightmare” for small businesses, citing cases where a company was faced with having to lay off a part-time employee responsible for payroll because she did not have the expertise to oversee auto-enrolment.
He also said the government’s auto-enrolment scheme, Nest, was “not very helpful” to small businesses struggling to comply.
james.fernyhough@ft.com
