DWP urged to lower minimum automatic enrolment age as early years are 'the most valuable'

Renny Biggins, the Head of Retirement at TISA, explained: "If the UK is to continue in its progression to offer a truly world-class pension system then, other than making further enhancements to the state pension which we believe would not be palatable to Government or the public, we need to increase AE contribution levels to enable us to compare more favourably with our international peers.

"We believe an increase in minimum contribution rates to 12 percent of salary would just about achieve a balance between an inertia approach and the opportunity to achieve enhanced outcomes through engagement.

“It is a collective Government and industry responsibility to ensure AE remains a success, relevant to a constantly changing backdrop of personal wealth, taxes and working patterns, and continues (in combination with state pension) to produce good consumer outcomes which are comparable with our international peers.

"We also recognise that it can realistically take several years for agreed proposals to make their way into legislation, which is why we call for a second official DWP AE review to take place no later than 2022 and for future statutory reviews to take place periodically.”