Data from accountancy practice Nixon Williams shines a light on the vast numbers of contractors and freelancers snubbing personal pension schemes

Study finds the number opting to avoid pension scheme payments has risen 12 per cent in a single year, as the Taylor Review sparks calls for a new auto-enrolment option for self-employed workers.

Almost two-thirds (64 per cent) of self-employed people in the UK are avoiding paying money into a personal pension scheme to save for their retirement, a new study shows. With an estimated 4.5 million self-employed workers in Britain, the figures suggest as many as 2.9 million contractors and freelancers are now opting to shun defined contribution schemes – an increase of 12 per cent compared to the same study the previous year.

The latest figures – collected from a survey of 1,000 contractors and freelancers across the UK by the accountancy firm Nixon Williams – are revealed just as traction gathers around the Taylor Review, which makes pension recommendations for the self-employed, noting many do not have retirement savings. In stark contrast to the self-employed figures, government data published earlier this month revealed that 81 per cent of private sector workers – some ten million – are now paying into workplace pension schemes thanks to the introduction of auto-enrolment in 2012.

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