The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (formerly the National Association of Pension Funds) has launched an online service designed to guide small employers through auto-enrolment for the first time.

It also provides small employers with an impartial guide to pension providers in the market and allows business owners to compare one provider with another, including ratings and reviews.

Lesley Williams, chair of the PLSA said the organisation is familiar with the problems businesses encounter, so it is able to offer the solutions.

She said: "We've used our expertise to create Pension Solution, designed purposely for small business to make auto-enrolment simple."

The PLSA has also launched three 'made simple' guides on Better Data, Better Governance; Diversified Growth Funds; and Foreign Exchange – extending its popular series.

The guides are designed to help de-mystify some of the more complex and technical areas of investment and pensions management.

Workplace pensions have seen phenomenal change in recent years and this has put pressure of already stretched resources within the industry, the PSLA said, and the guides cut through pensions jargon to provide straightforward explanations in plain English.

Launching the new guides is one of the first initiatives from the PLSA since the announcement of its re-branding at the annual conference in Manchester last week.

PLSA chief executive Joanne Segars told the conference the re-brand would enable them to look beyond pensions and towards 'lifetime savings' more generally.

She said: "This is the start of an exciting new period in our history. We'll still do what we've always done – help schemes help their members save confidently for retirement – but our new identity allows us to share our knowledge and expertise directly and readily with more schemes and more savers."

First published 22.10.2015

Lindsay.sharman@wilmingtonplc.com