Aegon has found that companies’ senior HR management’s knowledge of A-day legislation and awareness of the implications for their businesses remain low.
It says with the April peak business period approaching firms should not think that the A-day opportunities have passed.
The provider says workshops undertaken with blue chip HR directors and senior reward and compensation managers have revealed that their knowledge of the legislation and specifically its impact on their group risk arrangements is ‘patchy at best’.
The research found unawareness of the fact that auto enrolment into pension arrangements could be a major potential pitfall due to the effect it can have on unravelling any protection senior employees had made. Simon Bailey, head of marketing at Aegon Employee Benefits says: “Top executives who move jobs need to beaware that auto enrolment into new arrangements may wipe away the safeguards they took protecting their benefits prior to the A-day limits being introduced. Together with a wider choice in group life products, employers can ensure their benefits are more closely aligned minimising the tax risk that any of their employees might face.
“The separation between pension and Group Risk consulting could well have created a misalignment in benefit provision. This channel division as well as the more obvious impact on the pension market means that the new opportunities for simplifying cover could well have been overseen by employers.”
