Could you recommend an Auto Enrolment consultant?

Auto Enrolment compliance support required

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Hello Community members.

I have some clients with AE staging dates in the coming 6 months.

I currently look after their payroll.

I'm looking for a reliable and cost effective consultancy who can guide us through the AE process  and take responsibility for the pension compliance.

I'm happy still to look after the payroll.

I would be most grateful if any community members would be able to point me towards a supplier who could do this.

Many thanks 

Albie

Replies (23)

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By SteveHa
17th Feb 2017 16:16

Why not do it yourself? It's not hard, and with the right payroll software you have an end to end solution.

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Replying to SteveHa:
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By Albie
17th Feb 2017 16:55

SteLacca wrote:

Why not do it yourself? It's not hard, and with the right payroll software you have an end to end solution.


Thank you for the reply and advice.
You have got me considering this.
I'm just concerned about potential oversights and the consequential penalties -is it much additional work? Do you mind if I ask what sort of payroll software do you use?
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By Matrix
17th Feb 2017 16:40

AE is a good fee earner once you know what you are doing. It gets easier after the first few. You have to research what to do and put terms in place but I try and get my clients to use the same provider (although it is their choice).

In my view the monthly compliance goes hand in hand, I don't know how you would do the payroll and a consultancy do the pensions. Once set up then it is just a matter of a submission and you would have to enter the pension contributions on the payslips anyway.

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Replying to Matrix:
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By Albie
17th Feb 2017 16:58

Thank you for your reply and advice Matrix.
You have got me considering this.#
I was concerned that the fee increment may not cover the additional time.
Your comment regarding the compliance going hand in hand does make sense.
I'm concerned about oversights and the consequential penalties -is it much additional work? Do you mind if I ask what sort of payroll software do you use?

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Replying to Albie:
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By Matrix
17th Feb 2017 17:10

Well you are quite late to the game so should do some reading, there is plenty of useful info on here from others.

You should get up to speed quickly or your clients will engage an FA at great expense with a scheme that may not fit into your software.

I use Moneysoft and True Potential but you could equally use Moneysoft/Nest or Brightpay gets excellent reviews.

You set a fee which covers your risk. I have added my fees already to many threads on this topic.

No it is not much additional work once set up but I take the responsibilities seriously, I don't love either payroll or AE but I would not want my clients to go elsewhere and the fees are not huge but add up.

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Replying to Matrix:
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By Albie
17th Feb 2017 17:50

Thank you for your advice Matrix, that is very helpful.

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By SteveHa
17th Feb 2017 18:37

Moneysoft handles it well and at no extra cost. I believe Brightpay also has it included now.

Stay away from the big boys, they'll charge you through the nose.

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Replying to SteveHa:
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By Albie
07th Mar 2017 11:22

Thank you SteLacca, I'll look at the above. You are so right about the charges from the big boys. My apologies for the delayed thanks, week previous to last went crazy and was on holiday last week

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By bernard michael
18th Feb 2017 11:26

Be careful if you suggest one pension scheme over another as you are not an authorised advisor
I just stick to NEST, which is relatively straight forward

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Replying to bernard michael:
By SteveHa
21st Feb 2017 09:18

TPR has confirmed that to make suggestions or recommendations to employers does not breach any regulations. Only advise to individuals is restricted to appropriately regulated persons.

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Replying to SteveHa:
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By Albie
07th Mar 2017 13:00

Thanks for that SteLacca, thats very helpful to know.

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Replying to bernard michael:
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By Albie
07th Mar 2017 11:26

Thank you Bernard, I was concerned on that point. My apologies for the late thanks - was away last week and week before threw was somewhat manic. Thank you for your comments

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By SpreadsheetUser
19th Feb 2017 07:59

As per the other replies, it's not as daunting as you imagine. I use Brightpay and this makes it a breeze along with some research I did with NEST and The Pension Regulator.
Once you've done a few and get used to it, it's a nice fee earner

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By Marion Hayes
19th Feb 2017 16:06

PTP Absolute offer a one off set-up service for £299 - I have just appointed them to look at my probably only AE client to ensure the right procedures/choices are made. Their IFA reviews the client and it's employees, advise on and set up the pension scheme and procedures. They then hand to me for the on-going payroll services for which I now use Moneysoft.
I was concerned that I would not have sufficient knowledge to support the pension scheme choice etc.

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Replying to Marion Hayes:
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By Albie
07th Mar 2017 11:29

Thank you Marion, that sounds like an excellent solution. I will look up PTP. My apologies for the later reply, I had a mad week before last with a planned holiday last week.

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By Alex_T
20th Feb 2017 14:16

Give it a go yourself, it is very straightforward with the right payroll software. BrightPay and Moneysoft are excellent value for money and do AE very well. I agree with @SteLaccastay, stay away from the big boys.
I am a big fan of Brightpay. The software is excellent for payroll and Auto Enrolment. I was anxious about taking on AE for my clients but Brightpay handles everything seamlessly - pre-assessment of employees, communications, ongoing monitoring of employees, opt in/outs, refunds, reports etc. You can even submit your pension contribution file direct to NEST or Smart Pensions from BrightPay with the click of a button, similar to an RTI return. It is also possible to authorise payment to NEST within BrightPay rather than having to log onto the NEST portal.
AE is a nice little earner, look at your options again before outsourcing it.
Best of luck!

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Replying to Alex_T:
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By Albie
07th Mar 2017 11:33

Thank you Alex, I'm feeling so much better about this with the comments I'm receiving. It looks like Brightpay comes out on top all considered. Again - my apologies for the late thanks I had a holiday booked last week and the previous week just did not go to plan. Thank you

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Replying to Albie:
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By Alex_T
07th Mar 2017 20:50

You're very welcome, Albie. Best of luck!

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Replying to Alex_T:
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By Albie
08th Mar 2017 14:27

Thank you s again Alex, your advice and from the AccWeb community has been fantastic and I now have it all organised. I'm going with brightpay and I'm using an IFA to get the initial set up. Thank you again for your generous advice.

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Replying to Albie:
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By Matrix
08th Mar 2017 14:36

I thought you said you were following all the advice and doing it yourself? Don't give fees away to an IFA.

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Replying to Matrix:
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By Albie
08th Mar 2017 15:39

Thank you for your comment Matrix. My reasoning was that I will have increased fee from operating the payroll and the ongoing AE duties going forward (together with being a one stop shop for those clients), but for the initial set up and advice on choice of scheme, I reasoned to forfiet the fee of £200 or £300 and leave that bit to someone who knows the landscape better. I've advised the client on which schemes interface with the payroll software though.

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Freddie
By Slim Freddie
20th Feb 2017 18:13

Do it yourself and earn a bit of extra money. I use BrightPay and it's very automated. Takes a couple of minutes per client to assess, send letters and enrol everyone. Most of my clients use NEST and it's fairly straightforward too.

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Replying to Slim Freddie:
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By Albie
07th Mar 2017 11:37

Thank you Freddie, there is a real consensus with the replies and its given me the confidence to go for it myself rather than outsource. My apologies for the late reply, I had a holiday booked last week and the week before became mad busy. Thank you for your comments.

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