Pensions - Articles - Reaction to latest workplace pension statistics

 ‘Just five years ago in 2012, less than a third (31%) of eligible private sector workers was in a workplace pension. The fact that this proportion had risen to nearly three quarters (73%) by 2016 is extraordinary. When all firms have completed the process of automatic enrolment by the end of 2017/18, we could easily be talking about more than four in five private sector workers starting to save for their retirement. It is especially encouraging to see that the biggest growth has been among the under 30s, with coverage rising from around one quarter of twenty-somethings in a pension to roughly two thirds, albeit that the amounts being saved are still very low.

 These figures do however show the contrast between employees and the self-employed. Even with a slight improvement in 2016, pension scheme membership by the self-employed stands at just one in six. Urgent action to include the self-employed within a version of automatic enrolment cannot happen quickly enough’.

 View the latest statistics here