Firm offers pensions audit

Specialist financial services law firm Armstrong Neal has launched a joint venture company to help law firms avoid fines of up to 50,000 when stakeholder pensions become mandatory next year.

A failure to 'facilitate' access to stakeholder pensions could leave solicitors' firms liable for fines of up to 50,000.

Fines will also be levied if firms' own occupational or group personal pensions fail to comply with government stakeholder requirements.

The firm's joint venture partner in the company - Stakeholder Innovations - is niche financial planners The Legal Brokerage, set up by solicitor Richard Thorpe.Armstrong Neal partner Gareth Fatchett said the company would offer firms a pensions audit to ensure that any existing scheme was stakeholder compliant and advise on changes where necessary.

Firms without pensions schemes would be referred onto a pension provider where 'better terms or added value' could be secured by bulk buying, he added.Mr Fatchett added that in a recent survey of 150 firms conducted by his firm, 97% of respondent firms would need to take some action to ensure compliance under the new regime.Mr Thorpe said the advent of stakeholder pensions also offered an 'incredible opportunity' for solicitors to cement links with clients.

Stakeholder Innovations will also work with firms to provide them with information so that they can also answer and guide their business clients through the process.

Sue Allen