In an ideal world and in every aspect of our lives we’d have total and absolute clarity. Every decision we make would be ‘black and white’ and we’d potentially all live happier and easier lives.

However in reality, and in every aspect, life is a bit more complicated…

We live in a world where every decision comes in shades of grey where often numerous factors mean a lot of decisions can be complicated.

This level of complication applies especially to those of us who run (or help run) businesses and applies to millions of us across the land.

When I take a look at automatic enrolment rules I often wish for total clarity. However in reality there are still elements of automatic enrolment regulation which is both open to interpretation and some of which is at the ‘discretion of the employer’

Now the pensions regulation is pretty good at providing clarity on certain issues most of the time. However sometimes there are ‘grey areas’ which often challenged legally where a decision is made in court. These decisions go on to make ‘case law’.

We take a clear approach with both the employers who use AE in a Box together with the employer clients we help at Cervello we’re really clear…

If there is a grey area, there is no ‘case law’ which further clarify the rules and we cannot get further clarification directly from the regulator…..we err on the side of caution.

 This is to ensure that we’re doing everything we can to ensure that employers are as protected and as compliant as they can be…..even in the aspects of automatic enrolment which still contain ‘shades of grey’.

As Automatic Enrolment continues it’s likely (and especially when you look at other countries which have bought in similar legislation) that the regulation will continue to change, aspects of the rules will carry on being clarified and case law will continue to define how certain issues will be dealt with (a recent example of this can be found here)

In the meantime, at AE in a Box we’ll still continue to do our best to ensure that employers are provided with a clear route to compliance and as the rules continue to get clarified we update the rules to ensure that an employer has the most up to date information at all times.

Also, as the rules continue to be refined, clarified and changed we’ll make sure employers are kept up to date at every stage of the process.

If you’re not currently an AE in a Box user you can find out more here:-

and if you’re an employer (or a professional who works with employers) who needs further help don’t hesitate to get in touch on (insert email or phone).