More start-up businesses are opening than ever before and less and less of them are having to close.  This equates to more small and micro employers

having auto-enrolment duties – actually more than even the Pensions Regulator formerly estimated.

The Pensions Regulator’s third annual automatic enrolment commentary and analysis was recently published, revealing that a total of approximately 1.8 million small businesses will need to meet their pension duties over the next 3 years.  This number is almost three times the previous estimate.

The analysis also showed that in the summer of 2017 a small peak will arise of about 350,000 small and micro employers whose automatic enrolment duties will come into effect.

HR experts use this report to identify changes in trends in the pensions landscape.  So far, human resource professionals feel that saving for a pension is becoming the norm.  Most employers are now choosing to use DC pensions with a fairly even split between trust-based and contract-based schemes.

The Pensions Regulator executive director of auto enrolment said auto enrolment has had a dramatic impact on the number for people saving for retirement in the United Kingdom.

The automatic enrolment commentary and analysis report also revealed that most small and micro employers completely understand their automatic enrolment duties.