13 March 2009
The ABI has issued the following press release in response to
the goverment's recent draft regulations on auto enrolment:
"The Government has today published draft regulations which will
set in motion the process for automatically enrolling all employees
into workplace pensions from 2012. The regulations stem from the
Pensions Act 2008, which the ABI supports as a means towards more
people saving more money for their retirement. But the Government
has the opportunity to go further and allow employers who want to
offer auto-enrolment to their staff sooner than 2012, and in doing
so giving potentially millions of people a head start in securing a
more comfortable retirement.
Maggie Craig, the ABI's Director of Life and Savings, said:
"These regulations are an important step on the road towards
pension reform. They set out the way in which all employers will
provide pensions into which their employees will be automatically
enrolled, either through existing workplace schemes or the new
system of personal accounts.
"But right now there are almost five million employees who could
be members of their workplace pension, getting contributions from
their employer and free money from the Government. It would be a
significant boost for retirement saving if employers who want to
offer that benefit to staff before 2012 were able to do so, and we
urge the Government to allow that to happen."
The DWP's draft regulations and Impact Assessment can be viewed
here (dated 12th March):
http://www.dwp.gov.uk/consultations/2009/
