Employers to start moving to Nest within 14 months – Pada

Paul Gilbody, head of market and product engagement says discussions have already taken place with top five EBCs and their employers with a view to putting employees within the Nest scheme more than a year ahead of the onset of employer duties, the timetable for which starts in October 2012.
Pada, which becomes Nest on July 5, 2010, says it expects to have the scheme open to business from April 2011, and predicts some large employers will start moving groups of their workforce onto the scheme some time in the summer of 2011.
Gilbody says Pada has been in talks with several employers about what Nest will be able to offer when employer duties become law, but adds that it has no intention of approaching employers direct but will speak to them about its product offering when approached, or when invited to do so by an intermediary.
He adds that some industry figures had misunderstood Nest’s charging structure, unveiled last week, as having an AMC of 2.3 per cent, rather than its actual 2 per cent initial and 0.3 per cent annual charge, leading them to believe the product will be expensive.
He added that he expected existing providers to be taking business of smaller employers than they do currently as automatic enrolment becomes mandatory.
Gilbody says: “We are ramping up our activity for launch of Nest next year. We are getting intermediaries talking about using the scheme ahead of the onset of employer duties. Some interested employers are household names. Some employers say they see a role for the scheme and if there is a way they can start to use it sooner rather than later, why not.”