More than 50 per cent of small and micro businesses have said that they view auto-enrolment as a burden to their finances, a recent survey has revealed.

A survey conducted by YouGov on behalf of workplace pension provider Smart Pension found that half of the UK’s smaller businesses view auto-enrolment as a strain and two fifths said it was unfair.

While an estimated 801,000 small businesses are to reach their staging date this year, 72 per cent said that it wouldn’t interfere with their growth plans.

The Pensions Regulator has noted that a total of 1.46 million small firms are due to set up auto-enrolment schemes, more than doubling the number in the last 12 months.

TPR estimated that 374,000 small employers enrolled during 2016.

Smart Pension co-founder and managing director Will Wynne said: “2017 is going to be a challenging year for hard-working small companies. We know initiatives like auto enrolment have a disproportionate effect on smaller firms, where the founder is often the boss, the FD, the HR manager, the works supervisor, the first aid officer - and everything in between.

“Next year [2017] is going to see dramatic step change, when almost a million small firms offer their employees an opportunity to save for their retirement for the first time – half a million more than in 2016. It will also mean pension providers need to be ready for the massive upturn in the number of inquiries from January onwards.

“The government is pushing small business gradually towards ongoing digital accounting and payroll products. If small firms are looking at investing in new accounting software, it’s worth making sure it will be compatible with the system used by their workplace pension provider.”

In addition, small businesses will also face increased regulation as the government’s Making Tax Digital initiative will enable small firms to access their tax accounts on an interactive digital platform from April 2017.

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