Financial advisers to the rescue as SMEs struggle

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The survey of small business owners staging between 2015 and 2018 showed that 12% plan to ignore auto enrolment completely and more than one in ten (11%) are unaware of what auto enrolment is. Just a quarter (24%) said they will be able to find time to make auto enrolment a success, leaving many businesses opens to penalties and fines from The Pensions Regulator.

A significant proportion of small businesses (28%) feel there is not enoughsupport for tackling auto enrolment legislation. Of those, 70% admit they don’t know who to turn to and 29% don’t believe their advisers know enough about the subject.

It’s clear that some advisers are taking proactive measures to bridge this gap, with 18% of respondents saying that their adviser or accountant has already approached them. However with research from The Pensions Regulator suggesting that 7 in 10 employers plan to ask a trustedadviser for assistance , the remaining 82% have an opportunity to turn a potential administrative headache into an easy service for their clients.

Freeing up business leaders’ time by offering a helping hand with auto enrolment will also allow financial advisers to add real value to existing clients. Almost three quarters (72%) of those surveyed said they would like to spend more time growing their business and analysis by The Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr) found that doing so could add an average of £4000 to their profits and boost the UK economy by £4.7 billion.

David White, Managing Director of Creative Auto Enrolment, said: “There are over 1.2 million small companies in the UK with at least one employee that will need to prepare for auto enrolment. A vast number of those are expecting their accountant or financial adviser tocome to the rescue when it comes to the legislation. However we know that auto enrolment preparations are not just an administrative nightmare for small businesses, it’s a huge task for advisers too.”

“That’s why we’ve launched a simple solution for auto enrolment, compatible with any payroll function.With no cost to the employer, you can make sure you turn SMEs’ biggest headache into your biggest opportunity this year, and beyond.”

Creative Auto Enrolment’s complete solution includes a Master Trust pension scheme that invests in funds managed by Scottish Widows and has PAN Trustees on board as the independent trustee.