Pension plan to auto enrol teen workers

THE Government will outline plans to allow employees to join workplace pension schemes from 18 instead of 22 this week, to build on the success of auto-enrolment.

Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey will applaud the scheme for boosting the number of people in retirement savings schemes and reversing years of falling participation rates.

She will add that in order to build on its success, the Government will lower the eligibility age for joining a workplace scheme.

The lower earnings limit will also change so that pensions contributions are made from the first pay packet.

Coffey said: “Automatic enrolment has been an incredible success. It has transformed the retirement prospects of millions of people, bringing them into a workplace pension when they could otherwise have slipped through the savings net.

“But while automatic enrolment has been a triumph, I will not rest on my laurels.”

According to a Department for Work and Pensions’ evaluation report due this week, the percentage of people saving through an employers’ scheme has gone up from 55 to 87 per cent over the six years to 2018.

It means 10.2 million more people now have a pension but the industry is impatient for more change.

Steve Webb, partner at consultant LCP and a former pensions minister, said that Coffey’s plans were first mooted in 2017 and that she needs to get on with implementing them. He added: “There’s been a lot of talk but things have stalled.we need action.”