Research conducted by Jelf Employee Benefits shows that less than one in three employers is ready for auto-enrolment, even though the largest employers in the UK are due to commence this exercise in just a few months time.
Jelf’s findings show very little improvement over the last 12 months as it compares almost exactly with research carried out this time last year: this year 31.1% of employer’s surveyed say they are ready – just a modest improvement on 29.5% in the previous survey.
Steve Herbert, head of benefits strategy for Jelf Employee Benefits said: ‘We are very concerned with the number of employers that still appear to be in denial about this issue. Auto-enrolment is not a theoretical exercise, employer’s need to understand that it is going to happen, and preparations need to be made in the very near future.
Our message is clear: employers need to get their heads out of the sand and start getting prepared now.’
The survey did however show that employers are more aware of their specific start date for auto-enrolment duties. Last year 31.4% were not aware of their company’s start date, and this has now dropped to 12.4%, so awareness has improved. Despite this, only 42.2% of employers have taken any concrete steps towards implementing auto-enrolment.
Although important, it is not enough to just be aware of the start date, there are a lot of processes that a company may need to establish in order to be ready for auto-enrolment, and Jelf is urging employers to get more fully engaged.
Steve Herbert continued: ‘We have carried out a huge amount of work to increase the awareness of auto-enrolment and help employers get prepared, particularly through our seminar and workshop programme, so we are pleased that awareness is increasing.
However, we can’t stress strongly enough that this is one of the biggest pension challenges that many employers will ever face, so employers really do need to use the remaining time available to them to get ready for implementation.’
