Payroll administrators report significant increase in ability to answer clients’ auto enrolment questions 7 August 2015
The Pensions Regulator has published the findings of their latest research which tracks awareness of auto enrolment amongst employers and intermediaries, and how they are preparing to act.
Key findings from the intermediaries survey:
There was almost universal (between 97% and 98%) awareness of automatic enrolment amongst all types of intermediaries, with bookkeepers similarly high (94%). The regulator was for the first time more likely to be recalled as a sponsor of advertising on automatic enrolment (70%) than the DWP (58%) and HMRC (44%). Payroll administrators reported a significant increase in their ability to answer clients’ questions, with 54% (up from 33%) believing they are fully able to answer queries. IFAs were most likely to report they could fully answer queries (63%), with fewer accountants (34%) and bookkeepers (20%) saying this. There are increasing proportions of intermediaries planning to act on behalf of their clients, as opposed to taking more passive roles of providing information or technical advice (payroll administrators 71%, IFAs 53%, accountants 44% and bookkeepers 42%). The vast majority (96% or more) of accountants, bookkeepers and payroll administrators planned to provide a service to micro employers, while most IFAs did (78%). Nine in 10 employers staging between August and November 2015 had commenced preparation for automatic enrolment. Seven in 10 small employers expected to rely on an adviser to provide practical assistance with automatic enrolment. Most (79%) employers staging in 2015 knew their staging date. A lower proportion (29%) of employers staging between January – November 2016 accurately knew their staging date, similar to the 30% of January – April 2017 stagers who knew their staging date. Awareness of automatic enrolment increased among micro employers, while understanding levels increased significantly amongst both small and micro employers.
Key findings from the employer survey:
The Pensions Regulator to provide BPT users with an assessment tool 14 August 2015
The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has published their response to the feedback received on consultation proposals to develop a basic automatic enrolment tool to users of the HMRC Basic PAYE Tool (BPT).
TPR consulted during April and May 2015 on proposals to develop a basic tool to support users of HMRC’s Basic PAYE Tools. Around 200,000 small and micro employers who use BPT are due to stage over the next two and half years. Whilst some payroll firms and pension schemes were against the regulator developing a new tool, the TPR consultation response shows that the majority of consultation responses were supportive of the proposal to develop a basic tool that aims to reduce the risks of error as a result of a predicted increased risk of manual assessment and calculation. “We will continue to recommend that BPT users consider using software with integrated automatic enrolment functionality, but by developing this basic contribution calculation tool we aim to ensure that BPT users have access to the help they need to support compliance. “The decision to develop a basic tool is recognition that significant numbers of BPT users will not seek a more integrated solution and will attempt manual calculations. This is another example of how The Pensions Regulator seeks to develop new ways to ensure we are meeting the needs of the diverse group of employers due to stage in the coming years.” Executive director for automatic enrolment Charles Counsell said:
It is expected that the basic tool should be available to download from The Pension Regulator’s website by the end of 2015.
CIPP comment
CIPP Policy News Journal
25/04/2016, Page 328 of 453
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