A group has been set up to raise awareness among Swindon businesses of legislation which demands that employers enrol staff into a workplace pension scheme.
The group is affiliated to the Friends of Automatic Enrolment – a national organisation launched by the Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals to counter the widespread lack of knowledge about automatic (or auto) enrolment (AE). 
Auto enrolment legislation carries a legal requirement for employers to enrol qualifying staff into pension schemes, with staging dates depending on the size of the businesses. From this year many smaller firms will be pulled in, with a spike at the end of 2016 and into 2017. Experts have predicted a potential capacity crunch, as employers clamour for support and to find schemes that will accept them.
The Swindon Friends of Auto Enrolment has been set up by Nicki Goddard-Dady, pictured, payroll manager at Swindon chartered accountants Banks BHG – which is hosting the Friends’ meetings – so those impacted by the changes can network and exchange expertise and knowledge.
Meetings are free to attend and are aimed at anyone who wants to learn more about auto enrolment, either because they are a professional who will be supporting clients – such as other payroll managers, financial advisers or people in HR – or employers and professional bodies.
Nicki said: ““I had been to meetings of the Bristol group, and I thought it was important to have a one in Swindon because there are so many businesses here. There’s no membership fee, and it costs nothing to attend. We just want to spread awareness and share best practice.”
“We had excellent feedback from our first meeting. We believe that by working collaboratively on the practical issues facing employers, the Friends of Automatic Enrolment can motivate and educate employers to want to start preparing for automatic enrolment more swiftly than they otherwise would, and that is essentially what needs to happen to avoid many thousands of companies failing to implement successfully.”
The group’s next meeting is on June 16 when industry relations manager with the Pensions Regulator Rebecca Woo
dley, pictured, will focus on what’s happened so far with AE and will explain changes to the regulations which came into force in April.
The talk will also look at how professionals can help employers search for a pension scheme and ensure they do not leave it until the last minute.
Nicki said she was taking calls every day from professionals and employers who wanted to know more about automatic enrolment.
“Auto enrolment is complicated and very involved. That’s one of the reasons why I set up the Swindon Friends of AE, so people can come together and learn more about it,” she said.
“There are still employers out there who think it won’t affect them, but it does. And there are professionals in areas such as payroll and financial advice who will be helping their clients bring in AE but who don’t know enough yet themselves.
“At our first meeting, many attending were with payroll bureaus, in HR or were independent financial advisers. The group is also open to employers, and we’d like to see more signing up to come along.”
The Swindon group’s first meeting was attended by founder and chair of Friends of AE, Andy Agathangelou, who congratulated the group on its success.
For more information about Swindon Friends of AE or to book for the June 16 meeting, email nicki.goddard-dady@p-hr-s.co.uk
