Employers’ pension provision survey 2013: preliminary findings
The current nature and extent of pension provision among private sector organisations.
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A research report by John Forth and Lucy Stokes (National Institute of Economic and Social Research) and Catherine Grant and Sam Sullivan (TNS BMRB).
The 2013 employers’ pension provision (EPP) survey is the tenth in the series and has collected information on the current nature and extent of pension provision among private sector organisations. This is the first survey undertaken since the implementation of the workplace pension reforms. A major focus of the survey is on the early impacts of these reforms, as well as the intentions and levels of awareness among employers who are not yet directly affected by the reforms.
The 2013 EPP was conducted among a representative sample of private sector employers in Great Britain, drawn from the Office for National Statistics Inter-Departmental Business Register (IDBR). Telephone interviews with 3,079 organisations took place between 19 June and 4 November 2013.
Findings on employer awareness of the workplace pension reforms and the proportion of employees opting out of a workplace pension following automatic enrolment are consistent with other published research. This includes:
- levels of awareness of the workplace pension reforms among small and medium employers as published by The Pension Regulator Employers’ awareness, understanding and activity relating to workplace pension reforms (2014)
- levels of employee opt-out as reported in Automatic enrolment opt-out rates: findings from research with large employers
The findings also show a significant increase in the proportion of private sector employees saving into a workplace pension. This shows encouraging signs that automatic enrolment is achieving its objective of increasing the number of people saving into a workplace pension.
They highlight the likely sources of information and advice employers will seek as they complete activities to comply with the reforms. They also demonstrate the proportion of employers offering a qualifying workplace pension scheme and employer decision making around enrolling employees.
The Department for Work and Pensions will use the findings to inform the evaluation of the workplace pension reforms and ongoing development of policy automatic enrolment into workplace pensions.
We will publish a full report of survey findings later in 2014.