A new survey polling over 2,300 UK based small businesses

35% of UK small business owners are unaware of the pension auto-enrolment legislation despite impending deadline

A new survey polling over 2,300 UK based small businesses has found that a staggering 35% did not know what the pension auto-enrolment was despite the impending deadline to sign up. The new auto-enrolment legislation will be compulsory for all UK businesses by February 1^st 2018 and forces businesses to contribute to their staff’s pensions unless the individuals opt out.

All employees working in the UK will be automatically registered into the new pension’s scheme unless they opt out. Noncompliance for any UK business can result in huge fines and even imprisonment for business owners.

The survey, commissioned by local service marketplace website Bidvine.com asked participants, ‘has your business already complied with pension auto-enrolment?’ to which over a third (35%) said that they had never heard of the scheme, while 43% expressed a concern of hiring new staff due to the expense of the auto-enrolment legislation.

In a bid to find out the available information and support for the new legislation Bidvine asked participants if they thought there had been information about auto-enrolment for small businesses. A staggering 65% answered no there had not been enough information out there, the rest (35%) said that there had been adequate information and support.

Large and medium sizes businesses have already signed up to the auto-enrolment legislation as the government required these companies to sign up first, leaving just small business owners to sign up before the 1^st February 2018.

Taking about the findings, Bidvine.com co-founder Russ Morgan commented,

“We wanted to get insight into what small businesses think about auto-enrolment seeing as it’s going to affect every employer in the UK. We were astonished to discover that many didn’t even know what it is! It might seem like a way off yet, but as you will see in the guide we’ve created with the auto-enrolment bureau, business owners should start the process 6 months in advance in order to be compliant.

“We were pleased to see that most business owners agree that auto-enrolment is a good idea, however it is slightly worrying that 43% said the extra cost will affect hiring new employees – something the government may have to consider in the future as it may affect employment.”