Payroll and HR departments are likely to share responsibility for implementing pensions auto-enrolment, according to a report from the Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals (CIPP).

The report, the second from the CIPP to analyse employer readiness for automatic enrolment, gathered responses from 95 employers, pension providers, payroll software developers and payroll providers from different sectors.

Over a third (35 percent) of respondents to the survey indicated the HR department would take the lead on automatic enrolment, followed closely by the payroll department (32 percent). This represents a minor shift from the 2012 survey where payroll came out slightly ahead.

Just over one in 10 (11 percent) said that both payroll and HR would be joint leads.

Close to 70 percent said a project team had been set up for auto-enrolment, while two thirds (67 percent) look to the HR department to provide the required employee communications.

Almost half (49 percent) of employers will use specific pension campaigns to increase workforce participation in the pension scheme, compared to the 2012 research where just 41 percent intended to use only the prescribed legislative requirements.

It’s refreshing to see HR joining forces with other business functions in order to drive efficient change. As organisations must increasingly adapt, not only to new legislative challenges but external pressures, the ability of HR to collaborate with other departments will become essential.

Karen Thomson FCIPP MSc, Associate Director of Policy, Research and Strategic Visibility at the CIPP, said: “2013 is the year for the payroll and pensions industry with automatic enrolment underway and the imminent introduction of real time information (RTI) reporting.

“It comes as no surprise that our research has found that businesses are looking at both their HR and payroll departments to take the lead in executing pensions automatic enrolment. But it is reassuring to see that the majority of employers are setting up specific project teams to handle its implementation in which payroll plays a significant role.