5th March 2015

Auto Enrolment, Consultancy and picking the right route for your business

As we hit the period when smaller employers approach the challenge of complying with auto enrolment it seems that many of these firms are waking up to a certain reality…

Auto Enrolment isn’t going away

Therefore it’s time for the hundreds and thousands of employers who still need to comply to decide how they intend to comply with the new regulation.

We’ve explored in depth in this blog about how employers with enough time, expertise and willingness can comply themselves and how we’ve been integral in developing an low cost online support solution (AE in a Box) designed to empower firms to comply with this process.

However recently we’ve had a couple of calls from employers where they’d prefer a consultancy approach.

A service where a professional experienced in helping employers comply with auto enrolment can come into their business and support and guide them through the process.

The reality is that whilst AE in a Box is an incredibly useful piece of kit designed to help the hundreds of thousands of employers who want support to comply themselves there’s also a reality in the market place….

Some employers will want, and be happy to pay for, a consultancy solution

The commercial reality of consultancy (when compared to online support) is that it’s a more expensive approach. However for companies who are looking for a more bespoke solution to auto enrolment and are prepared to pay for a service which provides this it might be suitable.

On the whole the companies who fit into a few categories…

Firstly you’ve got employers who have complex historic arrangements with multiple payroll and multiple pensions and these existing arrangements make compliance more complex.

Secondly you’ve the firms who are so close to their staging date they need a hand held approach and need someone to walk them through the process so they comply with a tiny time available.

and

Thirdly you’ve got the firms who ordinarily have a number of relatively high earners in their workforce and don’t only want to comply with auto enrolment but also want to review their entire benefits package to ensure they attract and retain the best people.

It’s important to mention that we firmly believe that AE in a Box is right for lots of employers. However for the more complex, the more urgent and the more ‘incentive focused’ employers a consultancy approach might be the right thing for you.

However before you decide how to approach auto enrolment, understand one thing (and apologies for the repetition)…..

Auto Enrolment isn’t going away.

Read more about AE In a Box on our Auto-enrolment Microsite.

Business Development, Auto-Enrolment