Welcome to the Pensions Regulator's introduction to choosing a pension scheme for automatic enrolment.
For many employers, especially smaller ones, choosing a pension scheme for automatic enrolment can seem like a complex area so they may come to a business adviser like you for help.
As a business adviser, you need to be authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority to provide advice to individuals, but you don't need to be authorised to provide investment advice to employers choosing a pension scheme.
As an accountant, bookkeeper or payroll professional, you should check if there are guidelines provided by your own professional body to help you give advice.
If your client already has a pension scheme in place, they'll need to ask their provider if it can be used for automatic enrolment. If it can't - or they don't currently have a pension - then they'll need to choose one.
You can help by finding out what different providers offer and present your findings to your client.
We've also got help on choosing a pension on our website, with a list of some of the providers who can offer pensions to your clients. These include the National Employment Savings Trust - known as NEST - which was set up by government and has to accept all employers who want to use it for automatic enrolment.
If you'd prefer not to provide this type of advice, you could always refer your client to a specialist pension adviser.
Either way, you should let your client know that it's important that they consider choosing a well run pension that is suitable for them and their staff, such as schemes run by specialist providers. They should also think about issues such as costs, payroll and tax implications.
We have more information, resources and guidance available on our website to help you with automatic enrolment.