7 days

7 Days is a weekly round up of developments in pensions, normally published on Monday afternoons. We collate this information from key industry sources, such as the DWP, HMRC and TPR.

In this 7 Days:

• NEST research indicates pensions are becoming a national priority
• TPR launches new auto-enrolment campaign
• Research report on TPR’s 2014 DB funding code and annual funding statement

NEST research indicates pensions are becoming a national priority

Research released by NEST on 25 January 2015 indicates that pension saving is fast becoming established as a national priority.

In a poll of consumers, when asked how they would allocate their money if they had more of it to spend, “saving for retirement” ranked third in importance for the second year running, coming behind only holidays and saving for a rainy day on a list of priorities.

The research from NEST insight 2015 suggests that auto-enrolment, which passed its two year anniversary in October 2014, may be playing its part in driving this new national attitude.  Support for the policy continues to grow, with more than three quarters (77%) of consumers agreeing that it is a good thing, up from 68% in 2013 and 63% in 2011.

Even people who have opted out so far appear to be warming to the idea.  According to the research, they are now twice as likely to say they will stay in next time (41% say they will stay in when re-enrolled, compared with 19% in 2013).

The new pension freedoms announced in the 2014 Budget (see our Alert) may also be influencing attitudes to retirement saving.  Fears of pensioners buying expensive cars and squandering their money may be unfounded; only 7% of people say they plan to take their whole pot out at once and do whatever they like with it.

In fact, the new freedoms may be making UK workers more engaged.  More than one in three (34%) people say they will think about their retirement plans sooner and 29% say they plan to pay more into their pension as a result of the reforms.

TPR launches new auto-enrolment campaign

On 21 January 2015, TPR announced that it will be writing to all small and micro businesses in the coming months as part of a new campaign to give them key information on automatic enrolment, including when the duties affect them.

The decision to write to more than 1.5 million addresses across the UK from the end of January 2015 aims to ensure that, by the summer, all employers know their “staging date” (the date when they need to be ready to meet their automatic enrolment duties).

TPR already writes to employers 12 months ahead of their staging date, as part of its ongoing “countdown” of communications to employers approaching automatic enrolment.  The new all-employer mail out will be in addition to this regular activity.  TPR will also ask employers to provide it with email contact details so it can provide them with regular reminders and updates as their individual staging date approaches.

Research report on TPR’s 2014 DB funding code and annual funding statement

TPR has published the findings from the quantitative survey that it conducted following the publication, in June 2014, of the second DB funding code of practice (see our Alert for details).