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Are you ready to help your clients with Auto Enrolment? Auto Enrolment has now passed the large company roll out phase and from June 2015 starts to affect businesses with less than 30 employees with approx. 1.3 million businesses due to stage between June 2015 and November 2017. A survey of attending members in practice at a recent ICAEW Auto Enrolment event showed that 72% of practices had not yet finalised their strategy on how they were going to deal with Auto Enrolment for their clients but that it was high on their agenda for Q3 & Q4 2015. Speakers at the event provided insight into how practices could go about meeting the challenge of providing clients with appropriate advice about Auto Enrolment to help them meet their legislative compliance requirements and advocated breaking the process up into key component parts and deciding which, if any, the practice wanted to be involved in and which, if any, they would prefer to outsource to a specialist provider. The key steps in the process were outlined as follows:
1 Analysis Analyse your client base, separate into payroll and non-‐payroll clients and establish their staging dates (available via The Pensions Regulator (TPR) website). 2 Communication Inform your clients about their responsibilities and options. N.B. There is a common misconception that Accountants are restricted from discussing pension schemes with their clients but this is not the case. Auto Enrolment schemes are occupational schemes and as such not regulated by the FCA so there is no restriction on discussing or recommending a scheme or provider, indeed your clients will expect you to offer them this advice. The advice given at the ICAEW event was that although there is no restriction on giving advice to a company, advice should not be given to an individual. 3 Scheme Set Up Ensure your client sets up an Auto Enrolment compliant scheme or has an agreed exemption in place with The Pensions Regulator before their staging date. N.B. There has been much debate about which businesses are exempt but the advice from The Pensions Regulator is that the only definite exemptions are sole traders with no employees and Limited companies with only one Director and no employees. There is a common misconception that all Directors are exempt, this is a dangerous assumption and not always the case. Potentially when a Director is
carrying out their function as a Director they may be exempt but if they also work in or on the business they may not be exempt depending on the work they do and whether that is considered to be part of a contract of employment. Those clients who believe they may be exempt must apply to The Pensions Regulator for a certificate of exemption.
4 Software and Middleware Check that your payroll software interfaces with your client’s chosen scheme, middleware or system. 5 Internal Capacities Check that your payroll team has the capacity to deal with the volume of additional work that it will inevitably face if you decide to manage your client’s Auto Enrolment in-‐house.
Managing Auto Enrolment In-‐House If you choose to manage the process of setting up and managing your client’s Auto Enrolment schemes in-‐house the strong recommendation from the ICAEW event is to start gearing up now. Throughout the remainder of 2015 The Pensions Regulator will send 650,000 notification letters to businesses which will undoubtedly prompt your telephones to start ringing with clients who need your help with their Auto Enrolment. Outsourcing If you decide that you don’t wish to be involved in some or all of this process you have the option of outsourcing to a specialist Auto Enrolment provider. One such provider speaking at the ICAEW event was Enrolex. Enrolex have a unique offering that not only manages all client communications and scheme set up but also provides the Accountants with access to bespoke back end software that manages all the payroll process without the need to purchase any “bolt on” software. Importantly this back end system is not time-‐consuming middleware but automates and simplifies the Auto Enrolment management process as much as possible reducing the need for any additional practice resource. Following an introduction from you, Enrolex advisers interface directly with your clients by telephone and online to effectively manage the process of setting up an Auto Enrolment compliant scheme with a master trust using Scottish Widows as the investment. Enrolex also offers an exemption service and manages communication with The Pensions Regulator on behalf of the client.
N.B. Unlike most providers Enrolex guarantees acceptance of all employers into their scheme, irrespective of the number of employees. Other providers will often only accept employers with over 5 employees or impose other restrictions. Enrolex advisers also interface with your payroll department to ensure they are ready and able to manage their on-‐going additional Auto Enrolment payroll duties. Enrolex brings the benefit of ensuring that your clients receive a personal advisory service at an affordable price. Their pro-‐active professional approach avoids the risk of your clients receiving financial penalties for non-‐compliance or adopting a “head in the sand” attitude. When it comes to fees, Enrolex charge a simple one-‐off set up fee and have a unique fee share structure that allows the Accountant to set the client fee level (subject to a minimum of £150 per client). The fee is collected up front from the client by Enrolex and shared with the Accountant. There are no ongoing costs to either the client or the practice. Summary: Accountants can’t afford to ignore Auto Enrolment! If you decide to manage it in-‐house, ensure that you have the resource, time and importantly specialist knowledge to deal with it competently. Ensure that whatever solution you choose interfaces easily with your existing payroll software and is not too labour intensive for your payroll team. If you don’t feel able to deal with it in-‐house, engage a competent provider such as Enrolex to manage the whole or part of the process for you and your clients. Enrolex can be contacted on 0800 802 1291 or visit www.enrolex.co.uk