The government is to launch a consultation next month detailing proposals that could make the auto-enrolment process simpler for the pensions industry as a whole.

Employers and industry figures will be given the opportunity to comment on a number of areas including making the assessment of the auto-enrolled workforce easier and to facilitate the process for money purchase schemes to be able to show that they meet the scheme quality requirements.

The consultation will also explore whether to remove the duty for employers to auto-enrol particular groups who have lifetime allowance protections in place. According to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) rulings, individuals with fixed protection will lose this protection if contributions are paid to pension schemes. They could face significant tax charges if their benefits exceed their lifetime allowance as a result of this.

Pensions minister Steve Webb said: “We’ve been listening to the experience of employers that have enrolled their workforce so far and recognise that some parts of the process could be improved. By consulting on these changes we can address this before automatic enrolment is rolled out to small and medium sized businesses.

“We don’t want to make changes to legislation lightly but we do want to make sure that automatic enrolment is working as well as possible.”

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