Key points from the survey:
Workplace pension scheme membership has increased to 59% in 2014, from 50% in 2013, driven by increases in membership of occupational defined contribution and group personal and group stakeholder schemes. The increase is likely to be driven by automatic enrolment. Occupational defined benefit pensions schemes represented less than half (49%) of total workplace pension membership in 2014, for the first time since the series began in 1997. Pension membership increased in all age groups in 2014 compared with 2013, with the largest increase (17 percentage points, to 53%) in the age group 22-29. In the private sector, 33% of employees with workplace pensions made contributions of greater than zero but under 2% compared with 11% of employees in 2013. The increase is likely to be driven by automatic enrolment. The proportion of employees in the private sector receiving employer contributions of greater than zero and under 4% was 43% in 2014, compared with 22% in 2013. The increase may be explained by new members who have been automatically enrolled into a workplace pension with lower initial employer contributions until the phasing of contributions is completed in 2018.
You can view all the tables in the data section of the full report of the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings.
Pension Schemes Act 2015
5 March 2015
The Pension Schemes Act 2015 has become law and gives pension freedoms protection and introduces the new Defined Ambition pension schemes.
The Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) press release states that a revolution in pension scheme design, which could transform the retirement prospects for millions of younger workers, will now become possible with the passing of the Pension Schemes Act 2015. The act, which received Royal Assent on 4 March 2015, also heralds new rules providing greater clarity for pension savers, as well as protection for those taking advantage of the new pension freedoms after 6 April 2015.
It marks a new era and will pave the way for greater choice for employers in the pensions they offer as well as for savers in how they access their pension savings.
Minister for Pensions Steve Webb said:
“The passing of this act marks the culmination of a 5-year pensions revolution under this coalition government.
While for years successive governments simply watched the slow decline of the final salary scheme, we have responded by giving firms new ways of providing their staff with secure pensions. There is a real appetite from employers to offer high-quality pensions for their staff and the new Defined Ambition pensions made possible by this act will enable a new generation of better, fairer schemes.
CIPP Policy News Journal
08/04/2015, Page 428 of 521
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