SMEs have called on the pensions industry to provide clearer websites and to avoid the use of pensions jargon in an effort to better assist them with the implementation of auto-enrolment (AE).

Speaking at the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) annual conference today, three SMEs going through / having completed the process of AE implementation claimed that while the government website on AE was helpful and easy to use, the providers’ offerings could be better.

Val Allen, commercial manager at General Welding Supplies, praised the government website for being “really helpful, offering a plan to help SMEs know what they need to be doing and at what stage”, whereas the provider websites have been less helpful. “We have been offering two pension schemes, a GPP and Personal Pension, to our staff for many years, and in just trying to decipher whether or not our existing schemes are going to meet all the requirements of auto-enrolment, we just seem to be going round in circles. Clarity and keeping things simple would really help.”

David Coveney, director at Interconnect /it, also called for the use of clearer language and said that providers need to remember that the people they are speaking to when it comes to auto-enrolment at the smaller end of the market are generally going to be lay people when it comes to pensions. “There’s a lot to be said for using simple language,” he argued.

Planning ahead, trying to stay ahead of the game and keeping your payroll provider well informed of what you need from them in advance were also key messages to come out of the presentation. “Auto-enrolment at the smaller end needn’t be as daunting as people may think” argued Coveney. “While we did have some issues initially with some providers turning us away as they were simply too busy, it was then really about finding the best scheme out there. The key thing is to be organised and keep all your notes and information in one place. As a result we have managed to launch our pension scheme well ahead of our staging date.

“It’s frustrating of course that legislation around flexibility has changed since we set-up the scheme, but generally we have had a positive reaction from our staff and no opt-outs at all” he said.

Purdey Wildey, financial controller at Nails Inc, agreed that the process needn’t be as challenging as some may fear: “We only began to look into pension scheme provision three months before we were due to stage, however by doing a lot of research, meeting as many AE providers as possible and comparing offerings and costs, we managed to implement a scheme that truly suited the requirements of our staff, and had the easiest admin on offer. As such we have so far only had one member opt-out.

“It’s really about understanding the needs of your workers, providing a scheme that once they are in, they want to stay in, and communicating the benefits of that scheme to them. Also making sure your payroll documents are in order is key. Because we did all that, we found the process relatively smooth,” she concluded.

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