Trustnet Magazine Issue 9 July 2015 | Page 4

MONEY AUTO-TOPSY Phil Scott dissects the government’s auto-enrolment programme to see if it is delivering on its aims W ith an ever-greater number of employees being automatically enrolled into a workplace pension, the UK’s well-documented retirement savings shortfall should, in theory at least, be on the way out. However, two significant obstacles remain: namely that millions of workers aspiring to retire in comfort are still not saving enough and that the growth potential of many company pension portfolios is being stunted 2 as a result of being too cautiously positioned. Legislation introduced in 2012 declared that all employers must offer a workplace pension scheme and automatically enrol eligible workers in it. Official numbers show that, to date, more than five million employees have been placed in such a scheme and by 2018, when the roll-out is complete, it is hoped that up to nine million people will be saving for retirement in this way. THE PLACE T <