More than nine out of 10 corporate advisers believe personal accounts and auto-enrolment will be a boon for advisory business in spite of ongoing uncertainty around the proposed regime.
Responding to a survey at the Corporate Adviser DC Summit, 94 per cent of advisers said the impact of pensions reform, scheduled for 2012 will increase the volume of assets under advice.
However, more than two-thirds of advisers surveyed, 67 per cent, said uncertainty around the implementation of auto-enrolment was impacting their business, with 15 per cent claiming they had been forced to scale back plans for 2012 until after the general election.
More than half (52 per cent) of corporate advisers said they would proceed with implementing changes to their business models on the assumption that pensions reform would go ahead, but were fearful money and resources would be wasted.
The poll was taken days after pensions minister Angela Eagle accused Tory shadow Nigel Waterson of breaking the consensus over pensions reform, after he criticised the lengthy lead-in time for personal accounts.
David Haigh, head of workplace pension reform at the Department of Work & Pensions, attempted to reassure advisers that in spite of reports about delays to the new regime, auto-enrolment would go ahead as planned in 2012.
“It’s a myth that the reforms have been delayed; it’s perpetuated by people that don’t understand what we are doing. Anyone who thinks that you can implement this reform in one day is just wrong, Haigh said.