10 February 2017

Recent research by YouGov found that auto-enrolment (AE) is fair and good. Surveys showed around 60% of SMEs think auto-enrolment is fair and good and should be applied to all employers. And more than two thirds (70%) of those that have staged think AE is a good thing for their employees.

The survey was conducted among senior decision-makers at SMEs that were aware of their business’s staging date. It also found the majority (51%) of SMEs that had already staged supported workers currently outside AE being brought in. The same percentage also supported the self-employed being brought in.

Lee French from Corinthian Affinity comments:

French said: “It’s great that the majority of companies are satisfied with the principle of auto-enrolment and its effect on their employees. However, there are clearly concerns with how it impacts on the business itself. If you want advice on how to minimise the disruption and red-tape, why not contact us for an informal chat?”

There was also reasonable support for compulsion amongst SMEs, with 43% of those that have already staged saying they thought all eligible employees should be forced to pay into a workplace pension, with no opt outs.

And 46% of SMEs that had already staged agreed that businesses had a role to play in minimising opt outs amongst their employees.