Mercer welcomed Pensions Minister Steve Webb’s announcement at the National Employment and Savings Trust Insight conference; proposing to review processes which have been used to establish auto-enrolment within the largest UK employers, in order to reconcile "loose ends" in time for medium and small employers’ staging in 2014.
Rachel Brougham, Retirement Principal and auto-enrolment lead at Mercer commented, “Mercer welcomes any simplification of the auto-enrolment regulations. However, it may be a case of too little, too late for many firms who are already implementing the auto-enrolment rules as they stand.
“We urge that any proposed changes should be published as soon as possible so that many large companies are not undertaking work unnecessarily.
Brougham added, “There seems to be an ongoing stream of changes and consultations around pensions in the UK and we strongly advocate some breathing space. Employers, pension scheme providers and trustees should not constantly have to review and adapt what, by and large, are already well run, recently installed or reviewed pension arrangements.
“Simplifying the steps required to enrol in a pension scheme may prove timely for those organisations which are due to stage in 2014. However, new developments may blight plans for employers only beginning their auto-enrolment planning now. Significantly, any changes to the auto-enrolment process are likely to cause difficulties for the UK's largest employers, who have already arrived at or are staring down the barrel of an imminent staging date.”
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