23% have not considered ongoing auto-enrolment duties

Nearly a quarter (23%) of respondents have not yet thought about how they will deal with ongoing pensions auto-enrolment responsibilities once they have reached their staging date, according to research by Creative Auto Enrolment.

Pension jargon to avoid

Its research, which surveyed 505 medium-sized organisations, which will stage between April 2014 and April 2015, also found that just 23% believe they have set up the correct processes so that auto-enrolment should run smoothly after their staging date.

The research also found that 10% of respondents were unaware of the need to reassess and repeat all administrative tasks at each payroll.

As well as calculating pension contributions and setting up new pension and payroll systems, businesses are required to reassess all staff on their eligibility for auto-enrolment as ages and salaries change.

A further 43% said they did not know what this meant, whike 39% said they could not do this without seeking advice.

David White, managing director of Creative Auto Enrolment, said: “Auto-enrolment isn’t over once [employers] have staged.

”There are a number of tasks that businesses will need to handle at each payroll, which take time and resources. It’s clear that many companies are in the dark on this part of the process.

”We are urging the government to up the ante with auto-enrolment communications so that SMEs [small and medium-sized enterprises] are aware of what’s ahead and avoid falling at the first hurdle.”