Employers in the UK are spending more than five hours a month on managing workplace pension administration, analysis from Penfold has found.

This equates to over 62 hours spent on pensions-related administration across a year, or more than a full working week.

Penfold’s The UK Pension Gap report warned that these requirements remained a “significant burden” for many businesses.

Regulatory reporting was cited as the most time-consuming pension task by 70 per cent of employers, while 69 per cent pointed to payroll reconciliation as a significant burden each month.

Nearly two-thirds (63 per cent) said they spent a significant amount of time explaining their pension scheme and responding to employee questions.

Penfold said the findings highlighted the ongoing operational demands workplace pensions put on payroll and finance teams.

Although advances have been made in workplace technology, the provider noted that many employers continued to face time-consuming administrative responsibilities around pension management and compliance.

“Auto-enrolment has helped millions more people in the UK save into a workplace pension, but running a scheme still takes too much time for many SMEs,” said Penfold CEO and co-founder, Chris Eastwood.

“For employers already working with lean teams and limited resources, more than 62 hours on pension administration is a significant burden on payroll and finance teams. Connecting payroll and pension systems can reduce manual processes, cut the risk of errors and make routine reporting easier.

“Offering a great pension scheme shouldn’t come at the cost of business efficiency. UK businesses should be demanding more from providers to help reduce administration burdens and simplify compliance checks, as well as improving the employee experience when engaging with their workplace pension.”

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