The Department for Work and Pensions has this morning published annual statistics on workplace pension participation and savings trends: 2009 to 2024.
The statistics showed that rates of participation in Auto Enrolment have remained stable in recent years, along with stopping savings levels and contribution levels.
Nine-in-ten eligible employees, 21.7 million people, are saving into a workplace scheme, according to the DWP, while eight-in-ten of all employees are saving into a scheme, or 23.3 million workers.
The freezing of the earnings trigger for Auto Enrolment, at £10,000, contributed to a greater than usual increase in participation, as increased earnings brought more workers into scope.
However, although there was a good uptick in pension saving among workers who are not eligible for Auto Enrolment, from 28 per cent in 2023 to 33 per cent in 2024, pension savings rates remain low, at less than 40 per cent, highlighting the urgent need for policies to bring lower income, self-employed and gig economy workers, into pension saving.
Participation rates among employees of ‘micro’ employers with less than five members of staff are also far lower, at 59%.
The DWP also identified a lower than average proportion of Pakistani and Bangladeshi workers paying into workplace schemes, at 68%.
Pension withdrawals
The statistics have begun to reflect an increase in the proportion of people retiring with defined contribution schemes, relative to those with defined benefit schemes or annuities. The proportion receiving a lump sum or other Defined Contribution product has risen from 37% (280,000) in 2016 to 2017, to 48% (390,000) between 2024 and 2025.
Becky O’Connor, Director of Public Affairs at PensionBee, said:
“Auto Enrolment has been a success, but with a stabilisation in rates of saving for the majority of eligible workers and persistent gaps among those who are not automatically enrolled, there is a clear-cut case for the Government to turn its attention to how to improve long term saving among those currently left out of the system.
The demand for pensions among workers who are not auto-enrolled is there, as rates of pension saving in this group have increased between 2023 and 2024 seemingly organically, so a policy push is likely to be successful and well received.
PensionBee’s Invisible Worker campaign highlights that more than a million ‘gig’ economy workers are not currently paying into a pension. PensionBee is calling for reforms that prioritise simplicity, affordability, and broader eligibility.”
