Auto-enrolment of pensions in the UK has been hailed a success by the country’s pension regulator which says that more people are now saving more money in defined contribution (DC) pensions than ever before.
The regulator’s “Annual Defined Contribution Trust Report” showed that £5.4 billion (€6.2 billion) was put into DC schemes last year, an increase of more than 21% year on year.
Anthony Raymond, acting executive director for regulatory policy, analysis and advice at the regulator, said: “The success of automatic enrolment [whereby firms are required to automatically enrol employees in pension funds] has put DC schemes – and particularly master trusts – at the heart of pension saving in the UK.”
Master trusts accounted for a significant proportion of the increase and accounted for 10 million DC savers.
Raymond said the Pensions Regulator was working to drive up standards of trusteeship and implementing the Pension Schemes Act 2017, which requires master trusts to meet a set of standards to obtain authorisation to operate.
Matthew Burrell, senior policy adviser for DC at the UK-based Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association, said: “The report shows how important it is for industry and government to work together in order to ensure that these savers are properly protected by a robust and proportionate regulatory framework.”
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