Why auto-enrolment is leaving employees short of a decent retirement
The UK government wants to create “a pensions system that reflects today’s realities and tomorrow’s responsibilities: adequate for all, fair across and within generations, [and] sustainable for decades to come”.
Auto-enrolment – introduced in 2012 – has played a significant part in achieving this goal, adding 10 million people into workplace savings by 2023.
However The Pensions Commission, tasked with examining the deficiencies in the current system, stated “too many working-age people are projected to reach later life without sufficient private pension”.
So, while the number of pension pots have increased, those likely to achieve a suitable standard of living in retirement falls far short.
Speaking at the REBA 2026 Congress held this June Steve Watson, director of policy and research at Cushon, said: “When you look at average contributions, they hover around the auto enrolment minimum and that speaks to why the policy was so successful: inertia prevails. But if you aren’t contributing enough, no matter what the investments do, you aren’t going to have an adequate pension pot.”
Since employers are legally bound to provide a workplace pension, much of the responsibility falls to them to drive engagement and encourage employees to take positive action that can achieve better outcomes for retirement.
The Cushon Workplace Pensions Report 2026 finds 39% of employees are not confident they are making the right decisions and 38% had not yet taken any meaningful action with their scheme, such as setting a retirement age or adjusting contributions.
Much of this hesitancy is born from lack of knowledge, with 42% of employees saying they would be more engaged with their pension if they understood it better.
Watson said employers need to make pensions accessible and understandable.
“We need to move beyond compliance to an engagement model that makes pensions visible and easy to understand. Technology plays an important part as does using plain English.”
Also speaking at the REBA Congress 2026, Joel Ryan, head of engagement and governance at the Church of England Pension Board, said employees see their employers as trusted sources of financial support, and this provides a useful foundation on which to drive engagement.
In addition to frequent staff surveys, the organisation engages face-to-face with members to understand their priorities and challenges.
“We run a lot of focus groups and get people in a room or remotely on screen. We ask them in-depth, detailed questions, and hearing people's personal experiences is so powerful. While numbers on a screen tell one picture, hearing people added so much more to our pensions communication and strategy,” said Ryan.
Supplied by REBA Associate Member, REBA
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