More Tatton businesses help employees save for retirement

Esther at the House of Commons

More than 30,000 workers in Tatton are now saving towards retirement as numbers nationally enrolled in a government pension initiative approaches 10 million.

The Automatic Enrolment scheme is part of Government’s drive to encourage people to make provision for the future and requires businesses to automatically enrol staff in a bid to change the way people save.

According to the Pensions Regulator as of October 2,500 businesses across Tatton have enrolled their staff in the pension scheme, up from 1,970 six months ago. It means 33,000 workers have been enrolled and are now saving towards their future.

Tatton MP and Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey said: “Saving at a young age for pensions is vital and that is why I believe Automatic Enrolment is right and will change the way future generations think. We are living longer and therefore we need to make sure we are ready and can deal with that.

“It will become the norm that people are putting away money for later in life and what may seem like a different lifetime away, is being provided for.

“I am delighted businesses across the area are on board and are helping staff create a more financially secure future. It is essential we change the way we save for pensions. Automatic Enrolment has reversed a decade of declining savings and it is very encouraging to see how successful this policy is as we approach the 10 million enrolment mark.”

Government introduced the scheme to address the pensions crisis and encourage a change in saving habits. At present employers should enrol staff aged 22 or over and who earn more than £10,000. Ministers want to make saving the norm for young people so from the mid 2020s the age limit will be lowered to include those workers over 18, which will mean an additional 900,000 young people saving towards their future.

Nationally more than 1.38 million employers are signed up and 9.9 million employees were registered in the scheme, which started in 2012.

In April a report from the Office of National Statistics said the percentage of employees who are part of a work place pension had reached a record high.