Small businesses now have a better understanding of their duties under the Government’s pensions auto-enrolment programme.

By Mark Jones, director of Carmarthen-based Clay Shaw Butler chartered accountants and business consultants.

That’s according to the latest research by The Pensions Regulator, TPR.

The research is based on surveys carried out between February and April 2016.

It showed the understanding among small employers of their duties under pensions auto-enrolment saw a significant rise from 68% to 81%.

The Executive Director of Automatic Enrolment, Charles Counsell said: “More than 9 in 10 small employers are now aware of automatic enrolment, and there is now almost universal engagement from business advisers helping their clients to carry out their duties.

“This is the first employers’ survey since large numbers of small and micro employers have begun to visit TPR’s website for help in meeting their duties.

“It’s great to see such positive feedback, with 79% of the employers who used our website finding all or most of what they needed.”

Other key findings from the employers’ survey were as follows:

• Understanding remained largely unchanged for micro employers, rising from 56% to 60%.
• Direct communications from TPR continued to be the main catalyst for employers to start preparing for automatic enrolment. Of those employers who stated that both TPR direct communications and advertising prompted action, nearly two thirds stated the advertising encouraged them to look again at the direct communications.
• The vast majority (90%) of employers continued to express confidence in future compliance with automatic enrolment (93% in Autumn 2015).
• The majority of employers continued to have positive perceptions of workplace pensions. However, automatic enrolment was still more likely to be perceived as a challenge among micro employers than among small employers.

The research can be found here on the internet – http://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/press/pn16-34.aspx

If you would like help with pensions auto-enrolment, then please contact the team at Clay Shaw Butler.

In other news, the Office of National Statistics, ONS, has announced that in the three months from March to May 2016, the number of people in work increased.

The number of unemployed people and the number of people not working and not seeking or available to work (economically inactive) fell.

The statistics reveal that there were:

• 31.70 million people in work (176,000 more than for the three months to February 2016 and 624,000 more than for a year earlier).
• 23.19 million people working full-time (401,000 more than for a year earlier)
• 8.52 million people working part-time (223,000 more than for a year earlier).
• The employment rate (the proportion of people aged from 16 to 64 who were in work) was 74.4%.
• There were 1.65 million unemployed people (people not in work but seeking and available to work), 54,000 fewer than for the three months to February 2016.
• Average weekly earnings increased by 2.3% including bonuses and by 2.2% excluding bonuses compared with a year earlier.

Rain Newton-Smith, Chief Economist for the Confederation of British Industry, CBI, said: “These figures confirm the UK labour market continued to create jobs ahead of the referendum vote, although there was some underlying uncertainty represented by falling vacancies and subdued wage growth.

“Prospects for the labour market are now more uncertain following the UK’s decision to leave the EU. This highlights the need for continued labour market flexibility, and to ensure the National Living Wage remains affordable for businesses, reflecting the broader economic situation.

“Ultimately, increasing productivity, including by ensuring everyone has the skills to meet their full potential, will help to share prosperity across all areas of the UK.”

You can find out more about money matters on the Clay Shaw Butler website (under our news for business section) –

http://www.clayshawbutler.com/news/latest-news-for-business

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