Over a third (37 per cent) of eligible employees are unaware that they have been enrolled into a pension by their employer, according to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics.

Publishing its latest wealth and assets survey, the ONS revealed that 63 per cent of eligible employees were aware that they had been automatically enrolled into a workplace pension.
In addition, in the period July 2016 to December 2017, 40 per cent of adults aged under 60 years indicated that they were not in receipt of, or contributing to a pension, which fell from 50 per cent in July 2014 to June 2016.

The most common reasons for not contributing to a pension were that their income was too low, they were not working, or they were still in education.

Commenting, Quilter head of retirement policy Jon Greer said: “There can be little doubt over the power of inertia when it comes to auto-enrolment. However, while a successful scheme so far, the nation cannot afford to be complacent about pensions as on the face of it an astonishing 40 per cent of adults under 60 are not contributing or in receipt of a pension.

“However, a closer look reveals that the majority of people will be legitimately feel they are unable to afford to save, however, there will be some who aren’t willing to forego their current lifestyle or don’t feel they know enough about pensions to save into them.

“Meanwhile, just 63 per cent of eligible employees were aware that they had been automatically enrolled, meaning over a third either didn’t know or hadn’t been enrolled. While this may be in part due to the phased rollout auto-enrolment, the stark statistic shows that inertia can be dangerous. It needs to be paired with education so the public actively engage in their retirement savings.”

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