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TUC - More than a million low paid women lose out from new auto-enrolment threshold
More than a million low paid women could lose out on employer pension contributions after the government raised the new earnings threshold for pension auto-enrolment yesterday (Tuesday), says the TUC.
Employers and employees pay contributions on earnings above £5,564 following the start of pensions auto-enrolment in the autumn, but only staff with earnings above £8,105 will need to be auto-enrolled into a pension by their employer. This means that staff earning above the £5,564 minimum earnings band, but below the auto-enrolment threshold, will lose out on pension savings unless they voluntarily sign up for the scheme.
A TUC analysis of official figures has found that 865,000 women earn between £5,564 and £7,605 (last year's national insurance primary threshold), while a further million women earned between £7,605 and £10,000. It is likely that over a million low paid women will therefore lose out from the new earnings threshold for auto-enrolment, says the TUC.
TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: 'The government's decision to link the auto-enrolment threshold to the PAYE tax threshold is bad news for the low paid, most of whom are women working part-time.
'Whatever the merits of raising the tax threshold in the budget, it will have a wholly bad knock-on effect on pensions for the low paid.
'A key focus of pension reform has always meant to be improving women's pensions, yet every adjustment to auto-enrolment seems to chip away at women. And if the tax threshold is raised again it will only get worse.'
NOTES TO EDITORS:
Employees earning between lower earnings band (£5,564), national insurance primary threshold (£7,605) and £10,000
|
Total employees (1,000s) |
Earning less than lower earnings band |
Earning between lower earnings band and national insurance primary threshold |
Earning between lower earnings band and £10,000 |
All employees earning less than £10,000 |
|
|
All UK employees, per cent |
8.3 |
4.6 |
9.8 |
18.1 |
|
|
Total UK employees |
24,385 |
2,024 |
1,122 |
2,390 |
4,414 |
|
Males, per cent |
4.4 |
2.1 |
4.4 |
8.8 |
|
|
Total males (thousand) |
12,370 |
544 |
260 |
544 |
1,089 |
|
Females, per cent |
12.2 |
7.2 |
15.5 |
27.7 |
|
|
Total Females (thousand) |
12,015 |
1,466 |
865 |
1,862 |
3,328 |
|
Female part time, per cent |
26.5 |
15.8 |
32.7 |
59.2 |
|
|
Total female part time (thousand) |
5,160 |
1,367 |
815 |
1,687 |
3,055 |
Source: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2011
- Figures are all workers, including those outside the age range for auto-enrolment. This is likely to overstate low paid workers.
- All TUC press releases can be found at www.tuc.org.uk
Contacts:
Media enquiries:
Liz Chinchen T: 020 7467 1248 M: 07778 158175 E: media@tuc.org.uk
Rob Holdsworth T: 020 7467 1372 M: 07717 531150 E: rholdsworth@tuc.org.uk
Elly Gibson T: 020 7467 1337 M: 07900 910624 E: egibson@tuc.org.uk
