Industry renews call for ensuring growing number of self-employed save
Pardon the Interruption
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The number of self-employed people is still going up; there were 4.93m self-employed people (15.1% of all people in employment) in June-August 2019, 162,000 more than a year earlier, ONS stats show. This is greater than the annual increase of those in employment.
Tom Selby, senior analyst at investment platform AJ Bell, said the growth in the number of self-employed demands action on pension saving.
"The Government has suggested behavioural nudges targeted at promoting pension saving to the self-employed are being trialled with the aim of boosting engagement. While welcome, it is hard to imagine this will be enough to significantly alter behaviour," he said, calling instead for age and exit penalty changes to the LISA to make this a more attractive option.
Aegon's pensions director, Steven Cameron, said the latest ONS figures reinforce the need for government to create policies which reflect modern working practices.
"Top of the list must be addressing the pensions inequality under which employees benefit from being automatically enrolled with a 3% employer pension contribution while for the self-employed, there is no ‘default’ pension savings," he said.
Tom Selby, senior analyst at investment platform AJ Bell, said the growth in the number of self-employed demands action on pension saving.
"The Government has suggested behavioural nudges targeted at promoting pension saving to the self-employed are being trialled with the aim of boosting engagement. While welcome, it is hard to imagine this will be enough to significantly alter behaviour," he said, calling instead for age and exit penalty changes to the LISA to make this a more attractive option.
Aegon's pensions director, Steven Cameron, said the latest ONS figures reinforce the need for government to create policies which reflect modern working practices.
"Top of the list must be addressing the pensions inequality under which employees benefit from being automatically enrolled with a 3% employer pension contribution while for the self-employed, there is no ‘default’ pension savings," he said.
