First companies are enrolled but Jelf Employee Benefits AE tracker shows overall regression
A drop in levels of full preparedness from the Jelf Employee Benefits Auto-Enrolment (AE) Tracker, shows that being fully ready and compliant with the new legislation is perhaps more complicated than companies initially realised.
However, there are some encouraging signs that companies are taking some concrete steps towards implementation, and some early-birds are already enrolled:
• For the first time since the tracker began, 6.5% of respondents have enrolled
• Just under one in three employers (29%) is aware of their staging date and is ready for this exercise. This compares to 38% in November 2012; 31% in May 2012; and 29.5% in May 2011.
• 42% of companies have taken some concrete steps towards implementation
Steve Herbert, head of benefits strategy at Jelf Employee Benefits said: “Many small businesses have staging dates during the summer of next year, but many medium-sized business are much earlier, and unless they are making headway already there may be some sleepless nights ahead for these companies.”
Jelf Employee Benefits warns employers to take early action to ensure they can get the professional advice they may need to best comply with the AE legislation. Herbert continued:“As the number of employers due to comply with the legislation increases, there will be fewer and fewer consultancies available to provide specialist assistance.
The industry is calling this the ‘capacity crunch’, and the only way that employers can ensure this is not an issue for them is to seek guidance at an early stage.”
Herbert concluded: “It’s not too late but it soon could be, and organisations would be wise to remember that there is a risk of financial penalties should an employer fail to comply fully with the new regulations.”