By Lana
Clements
Employers
are being urged to start implementing new pension arrangements that could
"change the face of Britain's savings culture" as soon as possible.
From
October this year, regulations are to come into force that will require all
British companies to automatically enrol employees into pension schemes. It's
hoped that auto enrolment will help solve Britain's ticking timebomb featuring
an ageing population that is failing to save enough for retirement.
Workers
will still have the option to opt out of workplace schemes if they wish.
Previous research has indicated that over a third of UK families will be happy
to be automatically enrolled.
The
Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has now published information for bosses
to plan pension schemes for employees. Companies that leave it to the last
minute to implement changes are being warned that they won't have the time to
think about the best solution for their business.
Small
firms are already being given more time than previously expected to deal with
the financial implications of putting schemes into place.
Aviva's
director of workplace savings Paul Goodwin comments: "We're glad to see
that most of the final regulations have now been published, giving employers
and the wider pensions industry the opportunity to work together to get this
right for employees.
"There
is still a lot of work to do to ensure automatic enrolment is successfully
implemented, and it's important that companies of all sizes consider how they
will best meet these regulations and also start to engage employees on the
benefits of workplace saving."
