The run up to April every year is usually a pretty busy time in more financial planners and advisers offices for two really clear reasons…

Firstly we’re pretty busy ensuring our clients have done everything they need to do prior to the end of the tax year and work hard helping our clients understand the new pension freedoms.

Secondly for those of us with children, and if you’re a regular reader you probably know I’ve got two lovely (I am biased!) daughters, the Easter break approaches and as a family we need to find enough fun stuff for them to do. For the Daems clan this Easter one of the things this means a trip to Peppa Pig world (wish me luck!).

However this is a third thing which is specific to 2015.

You see in April 2015 we’ll be 9 months away from the first huge influx of SME employers needing to comply with auto enrolment.

I’ve written recently about how the pace of auto enrolment is due to accelerate at unprecedented speeds at the start of next year and whilst January 2016 may seem a long time away in many businesses we’ve found that one simple thing regardless of the size and type of the business needing to comply remains true…

The earlier a business starts to get ready for auto enrolment, the smoother the journey to comply is.

Now for larger businesses the journey to compliance was typically a 12 – 18 month one. For smaller employers the timescale we recommend is they start to prepare 9 months prior to staging date.

If an employer has less time than this they can still comply.

However in our experience employers who don’t leave themselves enough time to truly understand how the new rules impact their business can find themselves in a situation where they struggle to get everything done by their staging date, or if they do, find themselves in a position where they need to fully understand the rules, put a project plan in place and make decisions under a quickly approaching deadline.

However having sufficient time allows employers (and the professionals who work with them) make informed decisions without rush, decide on the best approach to comply with auto enrolment (which typically includes which software solutions to use and which pension will do the job) and typically have more compliant processes in order to ensure they meet the new rules.

This year will without a doubt be a year of change.

The impending election, a huge raft of legislative change which impacts our personal financial affairs and on top of that the tasks we need to complete in running and managing our businesses on a day to day basis.

However don’t forget that if you’re an employer (or one of the professionals helping employers comply) that we’re now at the stage where it’s statistically likely that you’re e1ither part of or will be helping out some of the avalanche of employers who need to comply is fast approaching and that early preperation in our experience has been a key component.

So, my humble suggestion, and whilst I appreciate that there’s plenty else going on in the coming couple of months…

If you’re an employer start planning to comply with auto enrolment today. If you’re a professional aiming to help employers with auto enrolment I’d suggest you do the same.