UK workers are missing out on an estimated £2.3bn a year in pension contributions by failing to join company schemes, according to new research.
A survey of almost 1,800 UK workers, by insurance firm from AXA, reveals that this figure could be as high as £5.6bn because 30% of respondents who had not joined a scheme did not know if their employers contributed to their scheme.
The findings reveal that, despite average employer contributions estimated to be in the region of 5% of annual salary, 28% of those employees who are entitled to join any type of company pension have failed to do so.
Mark Rowlands, business development & marketing director at AXA, said: “It is sad that so many British workers fail to join company pension schemes.
“It is perhaps an indictment of the lack of effective communications between companies and their employees.
“Simple effective communication of the benefits would go a long way to addressing the problem of pension under-funding in the UK by encouraging take up,” he added.
The survey also shows that the majority of employees (63%) who had joined company pension schemes said their employer does pay into the company pension on their behalf.
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