Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the timescale is for completing the automatic enrolment review that commenced in 2017.

The review of automatic enrolment was completed and published in December 2017. The review set out the Government’s ambition to build on the success of the workplace pension reforms to date, with a comprehensive and balanced package of proposals to further strengthen pension saving. The proposals, which are aimed at continuing to build a stronger, more inclusive savings culture for future generations, include lowering the minimum age entry point for automatic enrolment from 22 to age 18 and removing the lower earnings limit so that contributions are calculated from the first pound of earnings. Our ambition is to work towards implementing these changes in the mid-2020s. The Review also set out our commitment to test targeted interventions starting this year to identify the most effective options to increase pension saving among self-employed people.

The review report was laid before Parliament; it is available, with the associated analytical report, at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/automatic-enrolment-review-2017-maintaining-the-momentum

Automatic enrolment has been a great success story with more than 9.5 million workers enrolled into pensions saving. Over 1.1 million employers have met their duties. By summer 2018, 10 million people are estimated to be newly saving or saving more as a result of automatic enrolment.