Pension scheme membership statistics 2014

30 October 2014

New official statistics about pension scheme membership reveal increases in members of workplace schemes, alongside a host of other interesting trends.

The report from the Office of National Statistics highlights for example that:

· Membership of occupational pension schemes increased to 8.3 million in 2013 after a 45 year period of declining numbers.

· Private pension scheme membership remains higher for men than for women, but the gap is narrowing, from nearly 20 percentage points in 1996/97 to 3 percentage points in 2012/13.

· 29% of employees had a defined benefit pension in 2013, compared to 46% in 1997.

. The percentage of self-employed men belonging to a personal pension fell from 37% in 2005/06 to 25% in 2009/10, falling further to 22% in 2012/13.