The warning comes after a survey commissioned by the British Chamber of Commerce to coincide with the second reading of the Pensions Bill in the House of Lords this week.

From 2012, employers will be compelled to enrol those of their employees who have no arrangements or have a plan that does not meet the requirements of a qualifying pension scheme.

The change is predicted to add to the costs of thousands of small and medium-size enterprises in the UK. The Department for Work and Pensions has estimated the burden to be about £1.6billion on the sector.

However, the survey uncovered little knowledge of what is looming, when, and the obligations involved.

The BCC has launched a package for start-ups designed to attract early-stage entrepreneurs to become members of the national network.

The pack features rewards such as free banking plus mobile and computing offers from firms such as Blackberry, Microsoft and Dell.