The proportion of eligible workers auto-enrolled in a workplace pension remained stable at 88 per cent between 2019 and 2022, the latest data from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has shown.

This is equivalent to 20.4 million people, with “most groups” having seen trends in auto-enrolment (AE) participation stabilise between 2018 and 2022.

Since the introduction of AE in 2012, private sector participation in AE has risen by 44 percentage points.

However, some gaps remain, with only around 59 per cent of workers of micro employers and less than 75 per cent of Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Indian employees auto-enrolled in a workplace pension in 2022.

Total workplace pension savings for eligible savers was £115.9bn in 2022.

Although this represented a year-on-year increase of around £1.2bn in savings in cash terms, when adjusted to 2022 earnings, this was a real terms fall of approximately £5.6bn.

The DWP’s figures showed that AE had held up well amid the Covid-19 pandemic and cost-of-living crisis, with just 0.8 per cent of workplace pension savers actively stopping contributions in 2022/23.

In the previous financial year (2021/22), approximately 0.7 per cent of savers actively stopped contributions.

In the private sector, 86 per cent of eligible employees were participating in AE in 2022, while the figure stood at 92 per cent in the public sector.

Participation amongst those aged 40-49 was the highest (90 per cent) of the age cohorts, while the lowest was seen amongst those aged 22 to 29 (85 per cent).

“After years of growth in participation during the roll-out of automatic enrolment, participation rates have stabilised,” the DWP noted.

“Trends in stopping saving and contributions have remained relatively stable during and after the Covid-19 period as well as during a period of increased cost-of-living.”

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