Oral Answers to Questions

Harriett Baldwin Excerpts

Monday 9th March 2020 Commons Chamber

The Secretary of State was asked—

[Harriett Baldwin (West Worcestershire) (Con)]

1. What recent assessment she has made of trends in the number of people contributing to a workplace pension.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Guy Opperman)]

You have impeccable timing, Madam Deputy Speaker.

Workplace pension participation rates have more than doubled since the introduction of automatic enrolment under the coalition Government in 2012, rising from 42% in 2012 to 85% in 2018. In West Worcestershire, my hon. Friend’s constituency, 9,000 eligible jobholders have been automatically enrolled, and thanks are due to the 2,600 local businesses that are supporting them.

[Harriett Baldwin]

This has truly been one of the great policy successes of the last decade, but many would argue that people are still not saving enough for a comfortable retirement. Does the Minister plan to use other nudge techniques, such as automatic uplifts whenever a person gets a pay rise, to encourage saving for old age?

[Guy Opperman]

We have the 2017 review, which we continue to monitor and will implement going forward. Automatic increases are not part of the Government’s present plans, but I am actively looking to learn from private sector companies that are carrying out similar initiatives. I welcome my hon. Friend’s interest and would be happy to discuss this in more detail.