Pensions - Articles - Scottish Widows respond to plans for pension for low earners

 Pete Glancy, Head of Corporate Pensions, Scottish Widows says:

 “Scottish Widows supports proposals to reduce the auto enrolment threshold, which would help many more people, including over one million women, to better prepare for retirement. Our research shows that 60% of women are not preparing adequately for their retirement – compared to 51% of men, and that over a third of women do not have a pension, compared to a quarter of men.

 “While today’s announcement is a step in the right direction, the issue of band earnings also need to be examined to improve the retirement income of lower paid workers. If an employer bases contributions on band earnings rather than full earnings, then someone on a £10,000 salary would get their 8% contribution based on earnings of around £4,000. Basing contributions on full earnings could give a significant boost to individual pension savings and simplify the automatic enrolment process for employers.

 “Further measures to improve long term saving might include widening the scope for paying into a pension outside of paid employment and allowing couples to plan for retirement together to give women more flexibility in building up their own pension savings.”