Legal and General launches auto-enrolment initiatives

Legal and General has launched two new initiatives, designed to meet the auto-enrolment challenges facing employers.

WorkSave Choice is designed to manage the process for enrolling or opting out of auto-enrolment into a trust-based qualifying pension scheme, helping to ensure employers fulfil their obligations.

WorkSave Pension Trust is designed to provide a qualifying pension scheme that can offer refunds of contributions for short service leavers.

The firm has conducted customer research to identify both employers’ and employees’ concerns about auto-enrolment. The new initiatives will help Legal and General’s corporate clients ensure they comply with auto-enrolment requirements.

Tony Filbin, managing director, Workplace Savings at Legal and General, said: “The new rules for auto-enrolment will start to impact on most employers from next year, although the legislation is not due to come into force until 1 October 2012, which is why we have acted so swiftly to develop our new auto-enrolment initiatives.

“WorkSave Choice has been added to the WorkSave platform to aid the crucial auto-enrolment and opt out decision and process. We have had strong customer feedback to say help is needed at this crucial time, both for the employee in making a decision, with appropriate guidance on investment choice for those who stay in, and for the employer attending to the many governance requirements surrounding the decision.

“WorkSave Pension Trust, our second new initiative, is a flexible, platform based occupational pension plan that will allow for refund of contributions for early leavers. Our research indicated there is likely to be significant demand from both employers and advisers to have flexibility around the exemption vehicle for those who are seeking an alternative to [the national employment savings trust] Nest.”

Read more articles on auto-enrolment and Nest