SME's struggle to meet auto enrolment deadline

 SMEs struggle to meet auto-enrolment deadline

Many small businesses will struggle to meet the deadline to have an auto-enrolment pension scheme in place for employees if the government does not extend the current deadline, according to the Independent’s David Prosser. On 1 January, employers with fewer than 30 members of staff must begin the detailed work of auto-enrolment compliance and, by April 2017, every employer must be up and running with auto-enrolment. However, research published in October by Now: Pensions found that 10% of small businesses are already missing their deadlines, with a further 25% only just hitting the mark. Furthermore, the Pension Regulator has no mandate to treat smaller employers less harshly than larger firms, and has already ruled out doing so.

Source:   The Independent (21/12/2015)

Harris & Co, chartered accountants Northampton, the specialist small business accountants, have developed a service specifically designed to ensure that small businesses meet all their auto enrolment responsibilities. Phil Harris, Principal at Harris & Co said, "We"ve set up a special system for all our small business clients to implement auto enrolment in a cost effective manner. Without this kind of service, it"s very time consuming and expensive for SME"s to try to get to grips with the new system."