Staging for auto-enrolment requires less time than previously estimated, new research reveals.
The survey ‘Automatic enrolment: the payroll perspective’ by Dr Iain Clacher (pictured) of University of Leeds shows the average number of days required by employers to reach staging is now only around 20 days. Earlier research by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) in 2013 estimated an average of 103 days.
According to the new survey, the average staging times are 17.5 days for a company with less than 50 employees and 21.5 for a company with more than 50 employees.
The reduction in time is attributed to:
1. More experience across the payroll and pension industries
2. More payroll products having AE functionality as standard compared with 2013
3. The greater experience of payroll bureaux in guiding employers through auto-enrolment, providing them with information and processes to make the decision-making simpler.
The survey also shows that 41% of employers are seeking guidance for auto-enrolment directly from their accountants or payroll bureau/bookeeper, broadly split fifty-fifty between the two groups.
Respondents with experience of almost 800 employer staging events and companies providing payroll services to over 3,000 employers contributed to Dr Clacher’s survey. The research was undertaken with support from software developer Systemsync Solutions, whose Pensionsync API platform allows automated transfer of AE data and is now supported by Bond Payrite, QTAC, Xero, BrightPay and Benchmark.
Dr Clacher said: “In looking at the experience of payroll bureaux, bookkeepers, accountants, and so on, it is clear that the process of getting firms compliant with AE is becoming ever more efficient.
“As we move through staging dates to firms who do not have in-house payroll, we are seeing huge gains in efficiencies, as the payroll experts used by employers have a huge wealth of hard-won experience and they are bringing this with them. Payroll professionals are making auto-enrolment work for their clients.”
The full survey is available for download from the Pensionsync website here.
