In brief – self-employed want government pension saving help – Karen Last – BLOG

August 1, 2019 2:54 pm

Self-employed workers want government help to save for retirement and would back new laws to expand auto-enrolment or to make saving for retirement compulsory, new research shows[1].

More than half of self-employed workers questioned want the law changed to encourage them to save for retirement – 27% would support the expansion of auto-enrolment to cover the self-employed, while 27% would back compulsory pension saving.

The study highlighted the growing pension crisis among the self-employed, with more than

two fifths (43%) – the equivalent[2] of more than two million workers – admitting to

having no form of pension. More than a quarter (28%) say they will be reliant on the

State Pension as their main source of retirement income, worth just £8,546 a year.

The research shows nearly one in five (18%) self-employed people do not believe pensions apply to them, while 20% say they find the rules very confusing, and 15% worry they cannot immediately access their funds if out of work.

Workplace auto-enrolment has been a success[3] for the employed with membership of occupational schemes at a record high of 41.1 million and up by 49% over five years.

Various options to encourage and support the self-employed to save via auto-enrolment have been put forward in recent years.

Options for retirement

Wherever you sit in your retirement journey, we’re here to support you. Whether it’s starting a pension, saving more into your plan or to help with your options for retirement. Please contact us if you want to review your options.

 Source data

[1] Consumer Intelligence conducted an independent online survey for Prudential between 20 and 21 June 2018 among 1,178 UK adults

[2] https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/bulletins/uklabourmarket/september2018#summary-of-latest-labour-market-statistics

[3] https://www.gov.uk/government/news/automatic-enrolment-breathing-new-life-into-britains-retirement-prospects

 

Karen Last