Pensions law has changed - find out what pension reform means for you

Why has pensions law changed?

The Government has made changes to encourage people to save for retirement.

People in the UK today can expect to live longer than ever before.

The number of retired people will rise by more than a third by 2050 but there will be relatively fewer working people.

Pension reform aims to help people to save for their retirement so they don’t have to rely only on the State Pension.

What's changed?

The Pensions Act 2008 introduced new duties on employers to provide access to a workplace pension scheme for most workers. As part of this many workers have new rights.

Employers will need to enrol most workers into a workplace pension scheme that meets certain standards.

These standards depend on the type of pension scheme they choose. For example, if they choose a defined contribution scheme such as NEST they need to pay a minimum contribution. If they choose a defined benefit scheme they need to provide a minimum level of benefits.

About automatic enrolment

Many workers will need to be automatically enrolled into a pension scheme and you’ll hear the term ‘automatic enrolment’ a lot more in future. It means you’ll be enrolled into your employer’s chosen pension scheme without needing to ask.

Find out whether or not you’ll be automatically enrolled by reading about your new pension rights.

To help get the message about the employer duties across, you’ll see this logo on communications that discuss automatic enrolment.

It’s an easy-to-recognise identifying mark to help everyone get familiar with automatic enrolment and what it’s all about.

Where NEST comes in

NEST is designed to make it easier for all employers to meet their new duties and help more people save for their retirement.

For background information on pension reform visit: