Most employers expect the cost of implementing pensions simplification to fall between £10,000 and £50,000, says a survey by Hewitt.
A quarter of organisations estimate the bill of the new legislation to be between £10,000 and £25,000, while the same number predict costs of between £25,000 and £50,000.
A third of employers even forecast costs of over £50,000, including 56% of schemes with more than 10,000 members.
The report, entitled 'Are you ready for simplification?', also found that half of employers plan to introduce a flexible retirement policy when the new legislation comes in. The second most popular simplification proposal was the introduction of scheme specific earnings caps (47%), followed by changes to death benefits (32%).
However, few respondents thought that the new regime would fundamentally change their approach to pensions. Just 4% expect to introduce flexible benefits or move from a DB to a DC scheme. In spite of poor adoption numbers so far three-out-of-four said that they had enough time to put the changes into action.
• For a copy of Hewitt's 'Are you ready for simplification?' call Alita McGuinness on 01442 201390.