Rise in workplace pension membership to 50%

There was a increase in workplace pension membership to 50% last year following auto-enrolment, official figures have shown. Last year's rise was the first time the figure has gone up since 2006, according to the Office for National Statistics.Some 85% of public sector employees and 36% of private sector employees had a workplace pension scheme in 2013.{desktop}{/desktop}{mobile}{/mobile}The ONS said in announcing the figures: "In terms of pensions, the introduction of automatic enrolment represents a major change in the UK workplace pension system."The overall increase in proportion of employees with a workplace pension between 2012 and 2013 is driven by increases across different pension types."Membership of defined benefit occupational pension schemes increased from 28% in 2012 to 29% in 2013, membership of defined contribution occupational pension schemes also increased, from 7% to 8% in the same period."Membership of group personal and group stakeholder pensions was 12% in 2013, compared with 1% in 1997 (before stakeholder pensions were introduced) and 10% in 2012."Other headline figures from the 2013 Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings include:• 60% of employees in the public sector and 24% in the private sector contributed more than 6% of pensionable earnings;• 3% of employees in the public sector and 15% in the private sector did not contribute to their pension (zero contributions).• In 2012, 19% of private sector employees with workplace pensions did not contribute to their workplace pension;• In the private sector, 10% of employees with workplace pensions made contributions of greater than zero but under 2% in 2013, compared to 5% in 2012.

Rise in workplace pension membership to 50%

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