Nov 2014
3
Small Employers Calling for Auto Enrolment Delay
According to research by the ACA (Association of Consulting Actuaries), Nine out of ten employers who have not reached their pension auto-enrolment staging date yet would prefer that the process be delayed until the new raft of new pension reforms are complete.
Thanks to Employee Benefits for their report on the ACA survey:
The ACA 2014 Smaller firms pension survey, which surveyed 414 organisations with 249 or fewer employees, found that six out of ten of respondents are supportive of the new pension’s flexibility, while one in ten are opposed.
The research also found that 56% of respondents support further changes to pensions, whereby current levels of pension tax relief are more targeted to those with lower incomes. More than a third also said that tax relief should be further restricted for those on higher incomes.
Among the 57% of respondents that have yet to auto-enrol, awareness of staging dates and budgeting appears low with only 46% of respondents saying they are aware of these.
The research also found that:
- The Median opt-out of employees from the 43% of respondents that have auto-enrolled employees is between 11% and 15%.
- 57% of respondents with between 10 to 49 employees plan to use the NEST (National Employment Savings Trust) to auto-enrol employees
- 62% of respondents with 10 or more employees are clear about when they must auto-enrol eligible employees.
