Financial research consultant F&TRC has launched what it believes is the first workplace pensions ‘robo-paraplanner’ to make it easier for advisers to help employers select the right scheme for staff.

The company says the service will particularly help employers as they review the best options for their staff to coincide with their triennial re-enrolment process.

The new service is designed to support advisers in finding their clients a potential new workplace provider able to offer better service and “potentially lower charges” or to validate remaining with their current provider.

Using the ‘robo-paraplanner’ advisers can assess and compare large numbers of workplace pension providers, producing a comprehensive and bespoke report based on employer requirements.

As the fifth anniversary of auto-enrolment approaches, many clients are reaching their first, or heading towards their second, re-enrolment stage and are looking to evaluate the performance of their current scheme, says F&TRC. With contribution rates set to rise in 2018 and 2019 the company believes it is important to be confident that members are getting the best possible deal.

F&TRC has created an extensive benchmarking process measuring multiple data points from auto-enrolment providers covering 95% of the market (by number of employee members). The outcome is automatically generated providing detailed analysis of the suitable pensions schemes available .

Ian McKenna, director of F&TRC said: “The market has moved on considerably since auto-enrolment was first introduced.

“Schemes that were originally empty shells now have sizeable invested assets and providers services, which creaked in the early days, have now improved vastly - or not, in one or two cases. There is now more choice, greater flexibility, better terms – including reduced charges – and easier switching.

“This is a great opportunity for advisers to conduct an in-depth review and provide solid reasoning for sticking or switching. This area is a huge opportunity for advisers to grow fee income while at the same time delivering real value by identifying where employers can find better service and lower charges.

“While there is much of talk about robo advice, we believe at the current stage of evolution many employers want professional guidance from an adviser, hence we have built a ‘robo-paraplanner’ harnessing the powerful analytical capability of our established research engine to take much of the hard work out of creating reviews.”

There are believed to be over 800,000 employers using workplace pension schemes and over 8.5 million employees saving through auto-enrolment. This is expected to reach 10 million by 2018, generating around £17bn a year in workplace saving by 2019/20, says F&TRC.