UK organisations are facing £15.4 billion in set-up costs to meet the requirements of auto-enrolment legislation, according to research by independent economic consultancy Centre for Economic Business Research (CEBR) and commissioned by Creative Auto Enrolment.
The Finding your way out of the auto-enrolment maze report found that small employers, with between one and four employees, face an average set-up fee of £8,900 to be compliant with the legislation.
This rises to £12,600 for small to medium-sized employers with less than 100 employees, while employers with between 100 and 250 employees could face a cost of £15,600. Employers with between 250 and 500 employees could face an average bill of £22,300 for the one-off costs of implementing auto-enrolment.
The research also found:
- Employers are faced with completing a total of 33 different administrative tasks ahead of their staging date.
- Preparing for auto-enrolment could take each employer up to 103 man days.
- The ongoing administrative burden could take more than three days each month for some employers.
David White (pictured), managing director at Creative Auto Enrolment, said: “Employers must start thinking about what they need to do as soon as possible, because they can’t escape auto-enrolment.
“The staging dates for each organisation are coming, and each and every employer, regardless of size, will need to prepare. Our report highlights that the work involved is potentially huge, is specialist and is complex.
“There’s no benefit to organisations delaying getting their auto-enrolment strategy in place, but hefty fines will penalise those that don’t meet their responsibilities in time.
“With the clock ticking, employers need to start thinking now about what their duties are under the new legislation and who, within or outside their business, can help them achieve this.”