The number of people saving in workplace pensions has risen slightly, with the average pension value standing at £65,400 in the public sector compared to just £10,300 in the private sector.

Overall, 79% of eligible employees, or 22.6 million, were participating in a workplace pension in April 2021, up slightly from 78% in 2020, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The ONS said that the growth was partly explained by “increased public sector employment driven by the government’s response to the coronavirus (COVID) pandemic”.

In April 2021, the gap in employee workplace pension participation rates between the public (91%) and private sectors (75%) was among its lowest levels, mainly driven by increased participation in the private sector up from 32% in 2012.

Becky O’Connor, head of pensions and savings at Interactive Investor, said: “If we want more people to be less dependent on the state pension in retirement, it would help if the boundaries around auto-enrolment participation are relaxed.

“The disparities between public and private sector pension provision must also be urgently addressed. There is significant pension inequality between employees who are employed by the public sector with defined benefit schemes and those with defined contribution schemes in the private sector. This is already apparent among current retirees, who have vastly different living standards depending on who they used to be employed by.”

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