OREANDA-NEWS. January 28, 2016. A third of financial advisers believe auto-enrolment is one of their greatest opportunities over the next 12 months, according to Aviva’s Adviser Barometer. During 2016, 480,000 small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) are due to set up a workplace pension scheme – many of which are likely to feel they require some guidance through the process.

More than half of advisers (54%) have also reported seeing an increase in demand from small businesses looking for advice in line with AE staging dates, demonstrating the opportunity there is for advisers looking to work in the auto-enrolment space.

Andy Beswick, Managing Director of Business Solutions at Aviva, said:

“Auto-enrolment could be a huge growth area for advisers if they are ready to get involved in guiding smaller businesses through the process. It’s important that businesses don’t just choose their workplace pension scheme based on price alone. It needs to fit into their business model and adapt as the business’ circumstances change. This is the area where guidance from an adviser could prove very valuable.”

However, Aviva’s Adviser Barometer has shown that advising on auto-enrolment does come with its own challenges. More than half of advisers (59%) said that payroll and data management was the hardest to advise on. That was followed by process management (32%) and communications and compliance (32%).

“The results show that for some advisers there will be challenges with auto-enrolment, but there could be huge rewards as well,” said Andy Beswick. “SMEs don’t have the advantages larger

employers do like HR departments and experts in workplace pensions. Many will want help finding the right provider that fits their business and can provide the best possible benefit to them and their employees. This is where advisers can really show their worth and provide real value to their customers.

“We’ve invested a lot of time developing materials that can be useful to advisers and owners of SMEs, like our guide on how to choose a provider for auto-enrolment and a planning tool. If any advisers need more information on AE, those materials are a good place to start.”

Aviva’s guide “How to choose a pension provider for auto-enrolment” is available here.
Aviva’s top 5 New Year’s Resolutions for SMEs is available here.
Aviva has also created a short animated video explaining the basics of auto-enrolment.
Aviva’s auto-enrolment planner is available here.

Notes to editors:

*Research conducted between 4th and 16th November 2015 with a sample of 1865 advisers and paraplanners.

• Aviva provides life insurance, general insurance, health insurance and asset management to 34* million customers, across 16 markets worldwide
• In the UK we are the leading insurer serving one in every four households and have strong businesses in selected markets in Europe, Asia and Canada. Our shares are listed on the London Stock Exchange and we are a member of the FTSE100 index.
• Aviva’s asset management business, Aviva Investors, provides asset management services to both Aviva and external clients, and currently manages over ?245 billion in assets.
• Aviva helps people save for the future and manage the risks of everyday life; we paid out ?24.6 billion in benefits and claims in 2014.
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* Before the deduction of overlapping customers.