27 February 2020
The 2019 Automatic Enrolment Evaluation Report, published this week by the Independent Pension Commission and the DWP, demonstrates that 87% of eligible employees now contribute to a workplace pension; with a reassuringly low number of employees choosing to opt-out of auto enrolment. Only rising from 0.72% to 0.76% during the first quarter of the 2019/20 tax year.
The independent Pension Commission was introduced to address long term retirement saving in the UK. The work of the commission was further supported in 2012 when the Government launched automatic enrolment, designed as a way to ensure that the UK has a robust pension system enabling individuals to save towards the retirement they aspire to.
Since the start of auto enrolment in 2012 more than 10.2million workers have been automatically enrolled. Data collected up to 2018 found that the number of eligible employees participating in a workplace pension had increased to 18.7million – a 55% increase since 2012.
The report also noted a 47% increase in the number of private sector employers with some sort of workplace pension provision. This accounts for 62% of private sector employers.
“Automatic enrolment has been an unparalleled success, transforming pension saving for millions of people”, comments Therese Coffey, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.
“The saving habit is sticking too, as people recognise the importance of putting money towards their retirement” She continues, “I want people to save even more, if they can, to make sure the retirement they get is the retirement they want.”
Automatic Enrolment was introduced in stages and the IPC have declared that this is the last annual report planned now that the implementation period for automatic enrolment is over.