Government must take urgent action on pension contribution rates or risk undermining AE success

Commenting on today’s Occupational Pension Schemes in the UK data Helen Morrissey, pension specialist at Royal London, said:

“Today’s data shows an explosion in occupational scheme membership which now hits close to 50m. While this is hugely positive it is only the first step in helping people achieve a decent retirement income. There are still huge disparities in contribution rates with members of final salary schemes receiving much higher contributions to their pensions than their defined contribution counterparts due to higher employer contributions. Given that DC pensions are now the norm government must take urgent action to raise minimum contribution rates for these schemes. If people still receive an inadequate retirement income after contributing to a scheme their whole working life then this undermines everything auto-enrolment set out to achieve.”

Data can be found here - https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/personalandhouseholdfinances/pensionssavingsandinvestments/datasets/occupationalpensionschemessurvey