Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals on extending the Pensions (Extension of Automatic Enrolment) Act 2023 to (a) include auto-enrolment for employees aged 18 and above, (b) enable pension contributions to to be applied from the first £1 of pay and (c) increase employer contribution rates for auto-enrolment.

Security in retirement is a key priority for this Government.

AE has seen over 11.1 million people automatically enrolled into a workplace pension to date and more than 2.4 million employers have complied with their legal duties. This has helped to deliver an additional £43 billion being saved into pensions in 2023 compared to 2012 (in 2023 earnings terms) for eligible individuals.

We will consider if and when to make changes to AE, balancing the need for improved pension outcomes with the effects on businesses