Automatic enrolment review is considering removing the lower age limit
04 October 2017
According to a report by the Daily Telegraph, workers as young as 16 will be enrolled into company pensions for the first time following the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) automatic enrolment review.
The report states:
“The Department for Work and Pensions will use a major review of its flagship pension scheme to create a new culture of teenage pension saving in Britain, sources said.
At present employers are legally obliged to automatically enrol workers over the age of 22 into pensions, while younger workers have no pension rights and are often excluded.
But the removal of the lower age limit would see hundreds of thousands of young tradesmen, retail workers and some apprentices enrolled into company schemes.”
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CIPP comment The main focus of the automatic enrolment review is to ensure that automatic enrolment continues to meet the needs of individual savers. The existing coverage of the policy is being looked at and the needs of those not currently benefiting from automatic enrolment; for example employees with multiple jobs who do not meet the criteria for automatic enrolment in any of their jobs. Also under examination are the automatic enrolment thresholds namely, the trigger and the qualifying earning bands required by legislation (Section 14 of the Pensions Act 2008) and the age criteria for automatic enrolment. The review is also being used to consider how the growing group of self-employed people can be helped to save for their retirement. The official results of the review are expected before the end of 2017. |