More than 800,000 people in Britain are being paid illegally low pensions contributions by their bosses - or getting absolutely nothing at all despite not having opted out.
All workers in the UK making more than £10,000 a year - working out at £192 a week - have the right to have their pensions topped up by bosses.
The top up is worth at least 3% of your salary on top of wages, as long as you save 5% yourself.
People can opt out if they like, but as long as they're saving, bosses are required by law to add to it.
Additionally, the default position is that you are opted in - with workers having to specifically request that they opt out. Bosses can't do it on your behalf, or pressure you into it.
However, research from the Resolution Foundation found close to one eligible worker in 20 is being ‘under-enrolled’ in company pension schemes by receiving less than the minimum legal contributions, or no contributions at all.
Resolution Foundation economist Hannah Slaughter said: “The auto-enrolment of ten million workers into company schemes since 2012 has been both a huge policy success, and a major boost to the retirement incomes of millions of households.
“But while the focus of auto-enrolment has now turned to raising contributions and extending eligibility rules, policy makers need to add a third issue to the debate – tackling ‘under-enrolment’ where workers receive less than the legal minimum contributions, or no contributions at all."
Under-enrolment is particularly bad among agency staff and minimum-wage workers.
The report found that while 2.9% of permanent employees have not been enrolled, this rises to 10.5% among agency workers, 7.4% among temporary workers and 8.6% among people earning within 5p of the National Living Wage (NLW).
And while the short-term nature of a lot of agency and temporary might make it harder to auto-enrol staff, it doesn't change your right to that money.
Things were also bad in traditionally low-paying sectors such as admin and support services (6.9% under-enrolled), agriculture (4.7%), and hotels and restaurants (5.7%).
The Resolution Foundation is calling on the Pensions Regulator to to collaborate more with HMRC, the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate and the Single Enforcement Agency to make sure bosses are heald to account.
“Now is the time for The Pensions Regulator to step up its enforcement – supported by greater resources – as part of a wider agenda for the Government to make Britain’s post-Covid labour market are better environment for workers, and a far tougher one for the small minority of firms that break the law,” Slaughter said.
A spokesperson for The Pensions Regulator said: “The Resolution Foundation’s report makes clear that 98.7% of workers enrolled in a workplace pension are receiving the appropriate level of employer contributions.
“This means the vast majority of employers are successfully meeting their AE duties and are doing the right thing for their staff.
“For the small minority of employers who fail to comply with the law, we will use our statutory powers where appropriate, including issuing fixed and escalating penalty fines
“Between 2019-2020, we issued 48,267 fines for failures to comply with AE duties.”
