Auto enrole pensions

Do not want to be involved.

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I have told all my clients that I do not want to advise them or act for them on Auto enrol.

My main client appointed an agent to arrange the pensions but is now sending me links to the pension provider for me to do all the paperwork. 

I do not want to lose the client but neither do I want to be involved in this. Any advice most welcome.

 

Replies (12)

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Glenn Martin
By Glenn Martin
30th Aug 2016 16:26

Would think that is a risky stance and a missed opportunity.

If you push away AE ultimately you clients will end up with payroll bureau's or other accountants. If you are already doing payroll for your clients its not much extra to do and clients will accept a fee for it.

If you are not wanting to do it could you not bring in a local bookkeeper or wages clerk to do it for you but invoice it out as if your firm was doing the work.

Look at True Potential for providing AE its free and super easy to use.

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RLI
By lionofludesch
30th Aug 2016 17:56

There's a steep learning curve on AE - it's not like you have to learn one bit of software, you need to know three or four.

However, it's not that hard. What are you scared of ?

I'd be sacking that agent though. Or, at least, making it clear that it's his job - if that's how you want to proceed. More likely, I'd be telling the clients I've changed my mind, the agent's not up to it, and I'm taking charge again.

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Euan's picture
By Euan MacLennan
30th Aug 2016 18:26

I can only assume that the OP does not do payroll for his clients, because if he did, he would be involved with AE anyhow by processing the pension contributions through the payroll and uploading them to the pension company.

It is your decision if you don't want to get involved with payroll, RTI and AE, but you have to recognise that if you don't, you are not providing the sort of service that most clients expect from their accountant and it won't be just your "main client" who might look elsewhere.

If you are doing payroll and RTI already, the requirements of AE (including assessment and letters) are either included in the usual payroll software (Moneysoft, BrightPay, etc.) or available as a paid-for add-on module (Sage).

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By TDRtax
30th Aug 2016 19:49

Honestly, AE is not hard. I can't understand why anyone would refuse the fee income for something that, after the initial set up, is a piece of cake.

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By garforth
31st Aug 2016 10:02

Thanks all for responses and helpful comments. Most grateful
I will have to revise my thinking.
Just cannot stand the thought of more deadlines penalties etc.

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By garforth
31st Aug 2016 10:03

Thanks all for responses and helpful comments. Most grateful
I will have to revise my thinking.
Just cannot stand the thought of more deadlines penalties etc.

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By garforth
31st Aug 2016 10:03

Thanks all for responses and helpful comments. Most grateful
I will have to revise my thinking.
Just cannot stand the thought of more deadlines penalties etc.

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Freddie
By Slim Freddie
31st Aug 2016 11:43

Auto enrolment is fairly straightforward.

If you don’t handle AE for clients they are likely to go somewhere else. Most SME’s also prefer to have one accountant handling everything for them - not one for payroll and AE and another accountant for bookkeeping, VAT returns, etc.

Most of my clients are using NEST. Payroll software has come a long way over the last few years with auto enrolment. I use BrightPay and it is sooo easy to do the AE admin work. A few minutes and you’ll have the assessment, enrolment and letters done and dusted. Most other payrolls are just as good too when it comes to AE. Although avoid IRIS as they are charging extra for AE.

I presume you don’t want to lose the client?? Most accountants are charging an extra fee for AE so you can make more money. Obviously you could lose a portion of your clients if you turn them away.

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By Alex_T
31st Aug 2016 11:56

I agree with all the comments so far. This could be a missed opportunity for you and if you decide not to do auto enrolment for clients you are almost guaranteed to lose business to another practice that do offer auto enrolment as part of their payroll service.
Are you already doing payroll for your clients? If so, your payroll software should be capable of taking the hard work out of auto enrolment in terms of employee assessment, communications and ongoing monitoring etc. As @Euan MacLennan mentioned auto enrolment is included as part of the likes of BrightPay and Moneysoft at no extra charge.
I started using BrightPay last year and find it great. My clients' employees are monitored on an ongoing basis and I can send the pension file directly to Nest and Smart Pensions from the BrightPay in the same way I send an RTI. Both BrightPay and Moneysoft are very reasonably priced too.
Before you veto auto enrolment completely, have a look at your payroll software's auto enrolment offering.
Best of luck!

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By NYB
31st Aug 2016 12:32

Yes. Software by and large caters totally. BRIGHTPAY has an automatic link tool with NEST. Yes perhaps you do have to be prepared to understand the NEST website for certain circumstances should you have many clients. The penalty regime is not as threatening with TPR as those dreadful threats HMRC bombarded us with on RTI.
In my opinion it's good to have someone to advise/assist and there are always people on this website who would so be prepared to do.

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Replying to NYB:
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By murphy1
31st Aug 2016 12:37

I have the same issue and spoke to a person in my Institute about this.

They strongly recommend we don't become involved from a regulator point of view and professional indemnity insurance.

Our qualification - CA does not allow us to recommend a pension product, and my doing this, some years down the line they say, we may have a huge claim against us that the insurers would not pay.

I guess you need to be very careful how you do this, and also a strong Letter of Engagement in place.

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Replying to murphy1:
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By TDRtax
31st Aug 2016 14:24

murphy1 wrote:

Our qualification - CA does not allow us to recommend a pension product, and my doing this, some years down the line they say, we may have a huge claim against us that the insurers would not pay.

As has been mentioned before, recommending a scheme to an employer as an employer is not a regulated activity. Only advising individuals. Nevertheless, you don't have to recommend. Just suggest some and let the client decide.

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