The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has confirmed than eight million employees have signed up for a workplace pension since the launch of automatic enrolment.
The scheme of automatic enrolment into a workplace pension for all employees was expected to reach around 8 million workers who will be saving for their retirement. The expected milestone has already been reached and will steadily increase with thousands more employers enrolling their staff over the next few months.
Minister for Pensions and Financial Inclusion, Guy Opperman, stated “Reaching this eight million figure is a formidable achievement and represents a huge number of people on the path to a more financially secure retirement. However, we cannot be complacent and as contribution rates rise we know there is more to be done. That’s why our automatic enrolment review, which will report back later this year, is so vital to the future of this life-changing policy.’
The Pensions Regulator’s report shows that at the end of June 2017, 8,165,000 workers were enrolled in workplace pensions. Darren Ryder, TPR’s Director of Automatic Enrolment, said, “Tens of thousands more people every week are signing up to a new workplace pension through automatic enrolment. Employers are continuing to become compliant and to remain so, allowing their staff to get the pensions they are entitled to.”
Earlier this year, The Pensions Regulator highlighted how serious they are about Auto Enrolment compliance. As an employer, it is a legal requirement to automatically enrol staff into a company pension scheme whether they want to or not, and many businesses are at risk of fines and potential further punishment if they fail to acknowledge Auto Enrolment duties and warnings.
Mr Ryder continued, “There are more than 500,000 more employers whose duties are still to begin over the coming months. I would urge each and every one of them to check today that they know what they need to do and when they need to do it so they can seek our help if they need it.”
