Auto-enrolment: The KPMG approach 

Speaker key:
VO Voiceover
GH Gurmukh Hayre
RB Richard Birkin

VO KPMG has formed a specialist group to help businesses take a holistic view of their pension provision, and has launched a platform to help guide employers through the necessary considerations. 

RB Clearly the cost of the administration burden associated with the introduction of auto-enrolment is a concern for many employers in the UK.  We’re spending a lot of time working with employers to help them understand the options available, to mitigate overall cost and the administration complexity.  By following a structured roadmap we take employers through a series of steps so that they understand their duties and that we understand their overall objectives. 

We then explore the pros and cons of each option; examples of this include trust versus contract based pension schemes, and different administration service models, which can have a huge effect on the running costs of a pension scheme. 

Finally we benchmark employers’ schemes against NEST, which is a scheme created by the government to help employers fulfil their responsibilities.  This process allows us to establish the right framework for each employer and design a bespoke pension scheme that meets their objectives, fits into the overall benefits package, will be fit for purpose for years to come.  Member education support is at the heart of the scheme design to help employees make informed decisions that suit their own personal means and circumstances throughout their working lifetime, and as they approach retirement.

Through the wider KPMG team we provide clear, independent advice around logistics, IT and payroll integration as well as general cost reduction ideas, an example being the implementation of effective salary sacrifice to reduce national insurance costs.  Ongoing effective governance is essential once the new scheme is up and running. At KPMG we work with employers to establish a structure that suits their needs, and provides the required level of support and guidance.  Ultimately we’re helping employers reduce their operational costs, whilst at the same time helping members better understand how their scheme works and what

benefits they can expect.

GH Recognising that the HR and payroll impact will be significant, we’ve also further developed our flexible benefits platform, so that it fully integrates with employers’ HR and payroll systems in a way that automates the auto-enrolment compliance process. Therefore, we can relieve employers of this additional workload. Our key objective is to help you find the right approach, namely the most cost-efficient and administratively easy solution for your business.