In addition, the new tool helps advisers set an appropriate employer fee, something which a large number of advisers have not had to do before in the past.
Scottish Widows has developed the interactive tool in order to help advisers take employers intuitively through each stage of auto-enrolment, from initial analysis and planning of the changes, through to delivery, compliance and governance.
Key features of the planning tool include:
- Splits automatic enrolment into stages and tasks
- Clearly defines tasks to be completed
- Clearly assigns roles and responsibilities for each phase
- Sets costs for adviser fees for the tasks they take on
- Flexibility allows advisers to tailor tasks to meet specific client needs
- Each task has a RAG (Red/Amber/Green) status to highlight if tasks are completed on time and employers are on track to hit their staging date.
Throughout 2014 over 30,000 companies will working through their staging dates and it will be a challenging time for employers, advisers and pension providers alike. These mid-size companies do not necessarily have the experience and resource for this type of project, so the right advice and support for planning and rolling out auto-enrolment is essential.
Robert Cochran, Pensions Expert at Scottish Widows said:
“The challenge for employers in complying with their automatic enrolment responsibilities is proving to be greater than many had originally envisaged and they are turning to advisers in increasing numbers to help support them through the changes. Feedback from our seminars indicates that some of the biggest challenges facing advisers is getting employers to understand the sheer size of the job of complying with the auto enrolment rules and agreeing new auto-enrolment employer fee models.
“We have therefore developed this new tool with that in mind, offering the ability to develop a project plan for employers that will also double up as a useful fee charging solution. To make life easier we have pre-populated the plan with a range of tasks and issues that need to be dealt with for a successful auto enrolment experience. The tool covers the entire journey from initial discussions through to developing a fully compliant solution which also helps with ongoing governance arrangements that come into play post-staging.”
