Saving into pension through work 'now seen as normal'
Posted on in Business News , Cycles News , Creative News, Outdoor News
Workplace pension saving has become "the norm" for many employees, according to research released by the Government.
More than four in five (83%) employees eligible for automatic enrolment now see saving through a workplace pension as a normal part of having a job.
Some 80% of employees are positive about the benefits of them being enrolled onto a workplace pension, while 83% say they know where to go to find out more information.
In addition 79% of those with workplace pensions would welcome increasing their savings alongside employer contributions.
The Government is currently reviewing how to continue to build upon the success of automatic enrolment and how to encourage as many people as possible to save into a workplace pension. The review will report to Parliament by the end of 2017.
Minimum automatic enrolment contributions will increase to 5% in 2018 and 8% in 2019, the Government has previously said.
Employees are generally eligible for auto-enrolment if they are aged between 22 and the state pension age, earning £10,000 per year or more and working in the UK.
The survey of more than 1,400 eligible employees included people who have been enrolled and those who are due to be.
The auto-enrolment scheme started in 2012 with the biggest firms having to auto-enrol their staff, and it is now being rolled out among small employers.
By 2018 it is expected that up to 11 million people will be newly saving or saving more as a result.
The proportion of people choosing to save into their pension rather than opting out has also been higher than had been expected, with around 9 in 10 people remaining.
The Pensions Regulator recently announced that 8.3 million people have been automatically enrolled onto a workplace pension by nearly 700,000 employers.
Work and Pensions Secretary David Gauke said: "Automatic enrolment has been a huge success, helping millions more people save into a workplace pension.
"These figures underline the fact that saving for a pension has become the new normal with people from all walks of life embracing it.
"A private pension should not be a privilege, it should be something that the vast majority can work towards to complement the state pension in later life."
