Commenting on the pensions implications for gig workers following
today's publication of the review, , workplace savings leader
at PwC, said:
"The review's focus on today's evolving workforce shines a light
on the many complexities of modern working practices. While there
is rightly a lot of attention on how workers such as those
working in the gig economy are treated today, more focus need to
be placed on how these workers will fund their retirement in
future.
"Despite enrolling nearly 8 million people into a workplace
pension since its inception, auto enrolment only applies to
those who are employed, aged 22 and earning at least £10,000 a
year. The self-employed are not yet required to contribute, and
this is a problem for many thousands of gig economy workers.
Without any employer to enrol them,
many of the self-employed are unlikely to voluntarily save for
their retirement.
"We welcome the review's suggestion
of using the current system to make effective changes, perhaps
by auto-enrolment via the self assement
process. Self employment has
been one of the economy's key growth areas, and the lack of
long-term saving highlighted in the review risks storing
up problems that will need addressing if we
are to ensure all workers have a chance of achieving a
reasonable and comfortable retirement.
"The Government has already
announced that the subject of gig economy workers and the self
employed will be part of the DWP's comprehensive
review of auto-enrolment regulations this year. Finding a way
to ensure that all areas of the workforce benefit from the
success of auto-enrolment is an area that urgently needs
addressing if we want the UK to have a pension system that
provides an adequate retirement for all."
