ABI responds to the salary sacrifice cap announced in the Budget

Hannah Gurga, ABI Director General:

"We recognise the government is facing challenging economic circumstances, and difficult decisions must be made. The nation's savers, and our industry, need long-term policy stability to plan for the future with confidence.

"The changes to the salary sacrifice scheme are disappointing, especially at a time when we need to be encouraging people to save. This does the opposite and risks pushing millions of people into poorer retirements, something Government and industry have been working hard to avoid. However, the implementation date of 2029 will provide some relief to employers and payroll providers, giving them time to prepare and embed the changes."

Yvonne Braun, Director of Policy, Long Term Savings, Health & Protection, at the ABI commented:

"Capping salary sacrifice for pension saving is a short-sighted tax grab which will lower pension saving and undermine people's retirement security. It also goes against the Government's ambition to increase scale in pensions to drive more investments into UK businesses and infrastructure.

While it's encouraging that employers and payroll providers will have until 2029 to make the necessary changes to their systems, the wider work required to rebuild people's trust in the stability of pensions will take years.”