Two thirds of advisers are planning to advise on a wider range of employee benefits along with automatic enrolment for pensions, a survey by Canada Life Group Insurance has found.
Group life assurance was the most likely benefit to be discussed alongside pensions, with three quarters of advisers agreeing so.
Among all the advisers surveyed 31% expect to work more with Small and Medium-seized Employers (SMEs) over the next three years as a result of auto-enrolment, the survey of 251 advisers found.
Almost half (46%) of advisers felt they knew little about the cost and value of group life insurance.
Paul Avis, marketing director at Canada Life Group Insurance said: "The world of benefits changed forever on June 1st 2015 when 1.1m new-to-market benefits discussions, based on pension automatic enrolment, started.
"This is an amazing opportunity for both advisers and the Group Risk industry, as it will help us address one simple problem; less than 4% of all employers have Group Life assurance.
"Currently we have what I would term as woeful penetration, but the opportunity to move Group Life from the preserve of larger employers and extend to the SME space is now upon us.
"Most of these smaller businesses will not have had any exposure to employee benefits before and advisers must seize this opportunity to explain a wider, more rounded benefits package that does not just tick the pension's box.
"Two thirds plan to do so. An untapped market now exists and Group Life is a great way to replace lost pensions revenues, with the possibility of up to 30% commission throughout the duration of the contract.
"Presenting budget Group Life options at the point of the auto-enrolment implementation is too good a chance to miss, as we believe organisations have an increased interest in purchasing a lump sum benefit packages at this time."
