With 1.2 million employers required to enrol 11 million employees into workplace pensions over the next five years¹, there is growing evidence of smaller UK companies starting to miss their staging dates². In a bid to ensure its wider success, Barclays is working with leading pension provider Standard Life to support employers navigate the challenges of auto enrolment.
Tackling the risk that further companies will fall foul of the timescales in the regulations, Barclays Auto Enrolment Advantage is a fully integrated, online auto enrolment solution designed to support companies with the process to comply in a quick and easy way.
Richard Phelps, Head of Barclays Corporate & Employer Solutions, said: “It is thought that to date only 2% of UK companies have successfully completed the auto enrolment process. We are at a critical point as SMEs now start reaching their staging dates in large numbers. Reports suggest that many companies are either unaware of their statutory obligations or are underestimating the scale of the challenge ahead of them, threatening the success of auto enrolment to date.
“Compliance with auto enrolment is often more complex and more time-consuming than many think and by launching this solution, we are helping employers to take action on auto enrolment now. Joining forces with Standard Life in this way means that companies can benefit from our combined experience, giving them confidence in the process and a quality outcome for employees.”
Barry O’Dwyer, Standard Life Managing Director, Adviser & Workplace, said: “Auto enrolment is a real challenge for smaller organisations as they often don’t have the same support network as larger companies. So the current lack of SME engagement is understandable, but we need to tackle it head on to ensure their employees have access to one of the most valuable workplace benefits on offer.
“We’ve successfully auto enrolled over 300,000 employees and know where the pitfalls lie. Combining our extensive experience and innovation in workplace pensions with Barclays’ knowledge and understanding of the support employers require, we’re well positioned to help employers of all sizes complete their auto enrolment obligations in a timely and effective manner.”
Auto Enrolment Advantage seamlessly guides employers through their auto enrolment journey from start to finish via a series of simple steps from the advice and guidance stages through to pension set up. It is ideal for companies who have left it late or have limited resources to dedicate to becoming compliant.
With Barclays providing the upfront guidance and Standard Life the high quality Qualifying Workplace Pension Scheme, companies benefit from the combined experience, scale and resources of two leading financial institutions.
Auto Enrolment Advantage offers:
- Peace of mind for individuals who may have never saved into a pension through access to Barclays’ behavioural finance-based investment philosophy
- With the relevant data to hand, scheme set up in less than 6 minutes
- Access for more experienced investors to upgrade to self-investment for even greater choice of over 250 funds
- A suite of employee communications and tools to support on-going employee engagement
The announcement comes ahead of the latest deadline for auto enrolment, as companies with between 62 and 89 employees are required to be compliant by the 1 July 2014, with the final auto enrolment staging deadline in 2017.
www.barclays.com/autoenrolment
https://ae.employersolutions.barclays.com/auto-enrolment-advantage/
