Member Article

Plan now for next phase of pensions auto-enrolment

Bosses of small and medium sized companies across the Tees Valley who fail to adequately plan for new pensions regulation could find themselves unprepared for the increase in the cost of employment, warn chartered accountants and business advisers, Waltons Clark Whitehill.

Between now and February 2014, larger businesses are reaching their compulsory dates for enrolling staff into company pension schemes, with those employing 250 people or less being phased in under the legislation after that date.

This means that employers need to put pensions plans in place for staff, and those who have yet to make plans are running short of time, warns Heather O’Driscoll, Managing Partner at Waltons Clark Whitehill.

Heather said: “Auto-enrolment is something which is not going to go away, so employers who have yet to start making their plans need to be doing so now, especially those with less than 250 employees. This will bring with it a rise in the cost of employment and businesses need to be prepared to operate with this increase in their budgets.

“The idea of auto-enrolment is to take up to 10 million people into pension saving, giving them a more secure future. For the employer, this represents a significant financial commitment and it is not only the logistics of establishing a scheme which needs to be planned for; the cost of employment will rise as well.”

Waltons Clark Whitehill is holding an event to help businessesunderstand more about auto-enrolment. Experts from the Hartlepool firm will be joined by pensions specialists from insurance firms and IFAs. The event is scheduled to take place on November 6, 2013, at Waltons Clark Whitehill’s offices in Maritime House, Hartlepool Marina.

For more information about the event, e-mail shirley.blackwood@waltonscw.co.uk.

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This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Waltons .