The new legislation will affect employers in different ways, both those with an existing pension scheme in place and those without. However they’re affected, one thing is certain - employers’ need for advice will increase substantially.

Change always brings opportunities and challenges, and pensions reform is no different. The new employer responsibilities will mean hard work but if you start preparing in good time, you can maximise your business opportunities. And we have the expertise to guide you through understanding and preparing for the changes.

Some of the key opportunities to start thinking about:

• keeping employers up to date with developments
• helping employers understand the impact of their new responsibilities on their business
• helping introduce pension provision for employers with no pension arrangements in place or with pension arrangements in place for only a part of their workforce
• helping employers assess whether their current scheme meets the quality requirements and, if it doesn’t, what changes have to be made to the scheme design and processes, and the cost involved
• consulting with employees if scheme changes are made to existing arrangements
• running employee communication programmes
• helping employers decide whether to use a different scheme, the current scheme, a new, more flexible arrangement or the National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) for new workers
• introducing strategies to deal with increased membership and pension costs
• increasing take-up rates, before 2012, to smooth the impact on resources

Have a look at our step-by-step guide to start work on maximising the opportunities that the new legislation brings you.