UK. How the new govt should reform pensions

Auto-enrolment provider the People’s Pension has published five demands on the next government to improve pension saving in the UK.

In particular the provider wants the next government to help people on low incomes, reduce the gender pensions gap and to make pensions more transparent.

Auto-enrolment has widely been considered a success with 10m more people now saving for retirement than did before the policy was rolled out in late 2012.

But in its new manifesto, published today (November 12), the workplace pension provider urged the government to ensure people are saving enough for a comfortable retirement and millions of workers aren’t unnecessarily excluded from auto-enrolment. Gregg McClymont, director of policy at The People’s Pension, said: “The topic of pensions may not be a vote winner like the NHS or Brexit, but with millions of people at risk of not having enough to live on in retirement, it’s an issue that all politicians should care about and act on.”

The manifesto included five demands:

  • End the ‘net-pay anomaly’ which deprives an estimated 1.75m low earners of much-needed tax relief through auto-enrolment;
  • Extend auto-enrolment to millions more workers by making pension contributions begin from the first pound of earnings, lowering the eligible age for auto-enrolment to 18, and reducing the earnings requirement to the primary National Insurance threshold of £8,632;

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