Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if her Department will make an assessment of the increase in tax relief for part-time workers that would result from auto enrolment being extended to those earning under £10,000 a year; and what proportion of that amount would benefit (a) women and (b) men.

Under the Pensions Act 2008, the Secretary of State is required to conduct an annual review of the automatic enrolment earnings trigger, as well as the upper and lower limits of the qualifying earnings band (the automatic enrolment thresholds).

The review for the 2022/23 thresholds was published on 8 February 2021, here Automatic enrolment: review of the earnings trigger and qualifying earnings band for 2022/23 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). The earnings trigger, by remaining at £10,000, will bring in an additional 17,000 savers into pension savings, striking a necessary balance between bringing in those most likely to benefit from pension saving with affordability for those individuals and employers.

The review estimates that a reduction in the earnings trigger to £6,396 (the National Insurance lower earnings limit) would bring in 214,000 additional workers and increase contributions by £124m in 2022/23, compared to increasing the trigger by average earnings growth. Of this, around £8m would be via increased income tax relief. Of the additional contributions; a) 78% would benefit women and (b) 22% would benefit men.