Pension provider Smart Pension has published an ebook about auto-enrolment in an attempt to engage the notoriously difficult-to-reach small business market.
The free 93-page ebook provides a brief history of pensions in the UK before going into the details of how auto-enrolment works and what it means for small businesses.
It is pitched at small business owners and their advisers.
Smart Pension, which is part owned by Legal & General, was set up in 2015 for the specific purpose of targeting small and medium sized enterprises.
It is one of the few providers to specifically target small employers - a group shunned by many of the big life companies, which generally prefer to sell tailored pension policies to bigger employers.
The publication of the ebook coincides with the final 12 months of a five-year roll-out of auto-enrolment, which will see the UK's smallest employers enroll their employees in a workplace scheme.
Between now and April 2018, around a million small employers are expected to "stage", including those employing just one person.
Will Wynne, managing director and co-founder of Smart Pension, said: “As we enter the most critical 12 months for Britain’s smallest firms, we felt they needed all the help they could get to make sure they can easily comply with their new pension responsibilities.
He said the book contained a "concise yet thorough look" at the requirements of auto-enrolment, "from signing up for the government Gateway through to declaration of compliance and ongoing communication responsibilities".
The book also contains the views of financial advisers, including Simon Wroe of SW Financial Management and Andrew Hopper of Albert Goodman Chartered Financial Planners.
Recent figures from The Pensions Regulator have revealed that smaller companies are often unprepared for auto-enrolment.
In the last quarter of 2016, 6,296 employers were issued compliance notices, bringing the total number of compliance notices issued since 2012 to 31,680.
In the same period, 919 employers were handed £400 fixed penalty notices, bringing the total since 2012 to 9,831.
A further 870 escalating penalty notices were issued in the period, bringing the total to 1,477.
Separate research by Now: Pensions revealed one in five businesses was failing to auto-enroll its employees into a workplace pension in time for the deadline.
The soaring instances of non-compliance prompted the regulator to warn it would take legal action against businesses that persistently fail to comply with auto-enrolment rules.
Nigel Sycamore, director of auto-enrolment business advice firm Clear Workplace, welcomed Smart Pension's move.
He said small businesses needed as much help as they could get, adding it would "be nice to think" that some would read the book.
He said many small businesses "find it difficult to possibly comprehend that the government's pension policy could apply to them".
He added that his preferred auto-enrolment providers for small businesses were Smart Pension and True Potential, largely because they did not charge employers for the service.
Mr Sycamore said the fact that Smart Pension only offers funds from Legal & General IM did not concern many small employers.
james.fernyhough@ft.com
