Advisers have an important responsibility in guiding small and medium-sized firms through the auto-enrolment process as they approach their staging dates, the chief executive of Now: Pensions has warned.
Morten Nilsson said: “A large portion of employers are still burying their heads in the sand about auto-enrolment.
“Advisers have a vital role in supporting smaller employers through the auto-enrolment process and with so many employers staging, there is a huge opportunity for them to expand their client base and grow their business.”
His comments came as research commissioned by Now: Pensions among 244 advisers showed that 88 per cent of those currently advising small and medium-sized firms on auto-enrolment planned to continue doing so in 2015.
Firms with between 30 and 49 employees have between 1 August 2014 and 1 October 2015 to implement auto-enrolment.
Those with fewer than 30 employees have from 1 January 2016 to 1 April 2017.
Some 51 per cent of respondents to the research thought that auto-enrolment represented a good opportunity for them to grow their business over the long term, with 76 per cent seeing it as a chance to advise existing clients as well as growing their client base.
In addition to this, 68 per cent of advisers said they expected to be giving employers advice on selecting a pension provider.
Adviser view
Karl Hopper-Young, director of Sussex-based Sussex Independent Financial Advisers, said: “Our experience is that smaller firms leave it to the very last minute and then they ring you.
“The problem is that the life offices are trying to cost the schemes, but they do not have enough time.”
