Oral Answers to Questions

Flick Drummond Excerpts

Monday 5th February 2024 Commons Chamber

The Secretary of State was asked—

[Mrs Flick Drummond (Meon Valley) (Con)]

1. What steps his Department is taking to help people save for the future.

[Craig Tracey (North Warwickshire) (Con)]

10. What steps his Department is taking to help people save for the future.

[The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Mel Stride)]

Automatic enrolment has succeeded in transforming pension savings, with more than 11 million employees being automatically enrolled in a workplace pension since 2012 and an additional £29 billion in real terms saved into marketplace pensions in 2022 compared with 2012.

[Mrs Drummond]

I was very pleased when the Government brought in auto-enrolment for pensions in 2012, as making sure that everyone saves for a pension should prevent pension poverty. What is the rate of take-up of these pensions and what provisions are the Government putting in place to help those on low wages build up a pension pot to help provide a decent income in retirement?

[Mel Stride]

The increase in take-up since 2012 has been extraordinary, particularly among women, for whom the rate was 40% in 2012 and is now 86% and in line with men. My hon. Friend will know about the 2017 review that we conducted on auto-enrolment. As and when we bring in those changes, that will mean 3 million more people auto-enrolled with £2 billion of additional savings each year.