Reports and Briefing Notes

Will Personal Accounts increase pension saving?

This report illustrates the potential impact of the Government’s three key reform proposals for work-based pension saving in the UK. It uses scenarios that illustrate the potential combined impact of the reforms on the numbers of people saving for a pension, the level of contributions made to pension schemes and the total assets within pension schemes on the assumption that individuals and employers act in certain ways. These reforms are:  

• Auto enrolment into work-based pension schemes for eligible employees. 
• The introduction of compulsory employer contributions for employees who remain opted in to work-based saving. 
• The introduction of a new national pensions savings scheme, called Personal Accounts.

This paper is the third in a series produced by the Pensions Policy Institute that focus on outstanding issues in Personal Accounts.

Chapter one explores the impact of different participation rates on the additional number of people saving for a pension as a result of the reforms. This relates both to the decisions of employees to remain in or to opt out of work-based saving and other individuals’ decisions to join. This chapter also discusses some policy options that could influence participation.  

Chapter two explores the impact of employers’ behaviour on annual total pension contributions. We focus here on contribution levels and use scenarios for how employers might maintain or reduce their current contribution levels.

Chapter three explores the impact of demand for the Personal Accounts scheme on the shape of the private pension market. We explore the aggregate size of pension funds under management and how this could be split between Personal Accounts and existing provision.

Chapter four discusses the policy implications and the design choices that may influence the likelihood of the Government meeting its policy objectives.

Press

Executive Summary