The number of small employers that know their auto-enrolment (AE) staging date is "largely unchanged" since last spring, research from The Pensions Regulator (TPR) reveals.
Four in five (83%) smaller medium employers - those with between 50 and 89 workers who will stage from July 2014 onwards - know when their duties take effect.
This dropped to 47% for small employers (five to 49 employees) and 25% for micro employers.
A minority of employers of all sizes surveyed knew they had to register their scheme with TPR in order to remain compliant. Just 38% of smaller medium employers were aware of this.
TPR urged businesses to ensure they fully understand their legal responsibilities, as the number of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) due to stage increases rapidly this year.
TPR executive director for auto-enrolment Charles Counsell (pictured) said: "Most medium employers due to auto-enrol between July and early 2015 know about the changes in the broadest sense, but many still haven't considered exactly what they will need to do and by when.
"It really is time to act. Too many employers still think they can leave it as late as possible and don't understand the actions they need to take."
In its Employers' awareness, understanding and activity relating to auto-enrolment research, TPR found high levels of general awareness of the reforms, with 70%, 82% and 94% of micro, small and smaller medium employers respectively aware of the changes.
However, smaller medium businesses had significantly lower understanding of AE compared to large employers at a similar distance from their staging dates (67% compared to 82%).
The proportion of small employers that understand the reforms jumped 10 percentage points to 50%, while the level of understanding among micro employers remained similar to last year's (35%).
Four out of 10 employers (38%) staging between July 2014 and March 2015 knew scheme registration was required under AE law. Just 16% of small employers and 5% of micro businesses knew this.
The research comes as WSB sister title Professional Pensions revealed the number of TPR investigations into large employers' compliance with AE rules climbed to 590 by the end of January.
As a result of TPR enquiries, three compliance notices were issued to businesses that failed to register schemes.
