BUSINESSES which will be required to provide auto enrolment pensions from 2016 need to start planning now.

Those affected will be companies with fewer than 30 employees but Heather O’Driscoll, managing director of Waltons Clark Whitehill, the Hartlepool- based chartered accountants and business advisers, said they need to start planning at least 12 months ahead of their staging dates.

She said some of those dates will be from June 2015, dependent upon the last two characters of their PAYE reference.

“Auto enrolment is one of the biggest changes to pensions legislation in decades, and the responsibility upon employers, especially in smaller businesses which do not necessarily have significant resource in that area, is huge.

“It is these smaller companies which will start to come into auto enrolment in the middle of next year, and they need to start planning now and talking to experts.

“Through our payroll bureau we can provide the administrative support which takes this burden out of the hands of the businesses and helps to guide them through the processes involved.”