Next week (on Wednesday the 29th of September) they’ll be a special supplement in the Times which will be called Employee Engagement and Benefits.One of the topics which they’ll talk about in this supplement, as you’d expect considering the approaching avalanche of employers who need to comply, is automatic enrolment.

We were asked our opinions on the approaching automatic enrolment market for this supplement and we shared our thoughts on what employers need to both consider and look out for in this approaching market.

There are plenty of challenges both employers and the professionals who work with them face in this upcoming market.

Among them are ensuring they select a pension which is ‘fit for purpose’, ensuring their payroll software has the necessary functionality to support their journey to automatic enrolment compliance and communicating with their employees.

However often when automatic enrolment is spoken about there’s a bunch of employer duties under the rules which is either often ignored or underestimated.

For many employers who have already complied and employers who are due to comply in the near future (the number of employers who need to comply will be an average of around 50,000 per month starting in January) there is usually a significant focus two of the three ‘circles’ employers need to focus on in order to comply.

You see many employers understand that completing pension ‘tasks’ is massively important. Many employers also know that ensuring that completing payroll ‘tasks’ is equally vital.

However many employers together with some of the professionals who work with them sometimes apply less focus to the ‘third circle’.

This circle is regulation.

There are a bunch of tasks employers (or the professionals who work with them) need to complete in order to meet their regulatory obligations. Most pensions and payroll providers whilst providing a degree of guidance don’t include the completion of regulatory tasks in their purview.

This is where AE in a Box for many of our partner and employer users adds so much value.

You see whilst AE in a Box helps employers select a pension, ensures their payroll is fit for purpose and helps calculate contributions where it adds significant value is it’s ability to help employers understand their obligations under the letter of the law as well as guiding them through the process of compliance.

Also the regulatory obligations employers face won’t stop. In fact the reality is that an employers staging date is when their obligations actually start.

Therefore we’ve decided that AE in a Box will continue to provide regulatory updates as and when the rules change to ensure employers are fully updated every step of the way.

This means that as and when automatic enrolment regulation changes all employers who use our platform, from nurseries to coffee shops to charities, will be informed of the change as well as the ‘tasks’ they need to complete to ensure they continue to comply.

It’s one of the features which means AE in a Box continues to grow in popularity as we quickly approach the market where tens of thousands of employers need to comply each and every month.

However we’re not stopping there…

We continuously focus on what we can improve, how we develop the platform and how we ensure our platform is as useful as possible in the upcoming automatic enrolment avalanche.