AE: a practical guide

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AE: a practical guide

Chris Daems, the director of Essex-based Cervello Financial Planning, has published a practical guide to auto-enrolment to help advisers and smaller employers meet their obligations.

Three Circles, which was launched last week in London, promises to help employers understand their AE responsibilities and implement them painlessly.

“Three Circles is a step-by-step, nuts and bolts guide designed to help you through the AE maze. With practical guidance for both businesses and the professionals who work with them, this book will help every step of the way,” the Amazon review stated.

The review said the guide will help employers effectively communicate the changes to their workforce, and ensure they are not fined for not complying and steps needed to safeguard it.

The book also helps employers select an appropriate scheme for the business and software that can help with the AE journey.

Mr Daems, who in May 2014 won the group pension adviser category in Financial Adviser’s Life & Pensions Awards, also created AE in a Box in 2014. This is a piece of software that aimed to help employers comply and complete various auto-enrolment tasks systematically. It is priced at £79 upfront and £29 a month.

Advisers plugging into this can see where their client is along the auto-enrolment staging process, and ensure deadlines are not missed.

At the time, Mr Daems said: “Many small companies just do not have the budget to get advice on all these areas. We did not want to close the doors on them so we had to work out a way to serve that sector – there are more than 1m employers out there who need our help.”

Adviser view

Daren O’Brien, financial adviser at London-based Aurora Financial Solutions, said: “Anything that helps the employer is a good step. Providers of schemes have let themselves down by making it more difficult than it needs to be. Employers are happy to put schemes in place, as the contributions are tiered initially so they will not be too expensive for them but there are always the hidden costs and practicalities regarding what employers need to do to get the schemes set up and running. So providers need to offer more assistance to employers.”