Large employers in the UK look set to become a major channel for Lifetime ISAs, the recently introduced savings and investment accounts.
Seventy per cent of large employers in a survey said they were considering offering a Lifetime ISA or Workplace ISA through the workplace within the next five years.
This included 13% who said they are “extremely likely” or “very likely” to do so and in most cases, employers were also examining broader workplace ISA offerings, which would cover all employees rather than just those eligible to save in Lifetime ISAs.
Willis Towers Watson, an employee and investment consultancy which carried out the survey, said 50% of organisations anticipated letting employees exchange employer pension contributions for cash which they could choose to save in a different vehicle, or for other benefits. However, only 11% said that the full pension contribution would be exchangeable.
Minh Tran, senior consultant at Willis Towers Watson, said: “Despite a slow start on the provider side, our research suggests the LISA [Lifetime ISA] and WISA are set to become an integral part of workplace savings in the very near future and that a clear trend of early adopters has started to emerge.”
Willis Towers Watson surveyed 130 employers in 2016 to assess their views on the introduction of Lifetime ISAs in April 2017.
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