Blog: How can IFAs help auto-enrolment push?

NEST’s director of market engagement, Paul Gilbody, discusses how IFAs have a vital role to play in getting employers ready for 2012.

Employers don’t have to seek advice when it comes to responding to pension reform, but our research suggests many will seek information and guidance from a wide range of intermediaries, including from advisers.

Why advisers’ clients may well be seeking help is clear; every employer in the land will eventually need a pension scheme, and automatic enrolment from 2012 and the launch of NEST this year will fundamentally change the pensions landscape.

NEST Corporation’s predecessor, the Personal Accounts Delivery Authority (PADA), carried out research in 2008-2009 with a representative sample of more than 3,000 organisations in the UK (Birkett et al, Employers’ Decision-Making Processes for Pension Provision – Report of a Quantitative Survey). This suggested that 90% of UK firms intended to seek external advice to help them understand the impact of the workplace pension reforms that will begin to be introduced from 2012.

Many employers are likely to look to their IFAs, employee benefits consultants, or accountants and solicitors for guidance. Have you thought about how your firm will respond to this huge potential increase in demand?

If you deal with large firms no doubt you’re already talking to your clients, while firms that deal largely with medium or small firms have a bit more time to prepare. The duties are being introduced in stages over four years from 2012-2016, with largest firms affected first and the smaller firms coming in from 2014.

You can find out more details on the staging dates for different employers at the Pensions Regulator’s website (www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/pensions-reform/staging-and-phasing.aspx).

NEST is being designed to make it easy for employers to get information and support directly from our new website, but we also understand that advisers will need information about us so they can see how NEST fits in and what the product provides.

The recently launched NEST for advisers section includes tailored information on our investment strategy and fund range and how NEST can work for different employers.

This is information for you, but also for you to use with your clients as you support them in making an informed choice of qualifying scheme to meet their duties.

Employers that sign up to NEST and intermediaries that have access to a client’s account and administer these accounts on their behalf will also have access to their own secure area of our transactional website.

It is here you will be able to set up and administer employers’ accounts and get helpful guidance at every stage.

To find out more about NEST, email us at intermediaries.enquiries@nestpensions.org.uk or call us on 0300 303 1949.
Visit the website at: www.nestpensions.org.uk