Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the pension contributions of self-employed individuals.

The Self-Employment Income Support Scheme is supporting self-employed individuals whose income has been adversely affected by COVID-19. Following last week’s budget announcement, this support has now been extended until September. These measures will help those who choose to continue with their existing pension savings arrangements during a challenging time.

In December 2020, Nest Insight published research on the savings and financial wellbeing of self-employed businesses. This found that only around 20 per cent of self-employed people said they had reduced the amount they were saving for retirement through the pandemic; and belief in the importance of retirement saving appears unchanged through the pandemic. We continue to monitor and evaluate the impact of Covid-19 on retirement savings.