Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to encourage people aged under 30 in employment to save towards their pensions.

Automatic Enrolment has had great success in increasing participation rates in workplace pensions across the population. 9.4 million employees have been enrolled into workplace pensions since 2012. DWP’s figures show an increase of 44 percentage points in pension participation for those aged 22 to 29 from 2012 to 2016. Additionally, workplace pension participation among eligible men and women has equalised. We want to build on the increase in participation. The minimum contributions required under automatic enrolment will increase from the current 2% of qualifying earnings to 5% in April 2018 and 8% in April 2019.

Furthermore, in April 2017 the government also introduced the Lifetime ISA, allowing younger people to receive a 25% bonus from government on savings of up to £4,000 annually. This encourages the next generation to get into the habit of saving and helps them to simultaneously save for both a first house and for later life, with the same product.