Multi-jobbers losing out on £76m a year in pension contributions

Workers on the lowest salaries with more than one job are losing out on £76m a year in employer pension contributions due to an “unfair” system, according to a new study from Scottish Widows.

With more than four million people in the UK having more than one job, the pensions expert has called for the government to scrap automatic enrolment thresholds.

This is because no matter how much a worker earns in total, they are excluded from being automatically enrolled into the company pension where a job pays less than £10,000 a year. Scottish Widows highlighted that while the success of auto-enrolment relies on people doing nothing, the lowest earners in society “miss out” on the benefit of this behavioural nudge.

The study, based on research across a total of 5,010 adults, found that almost half (49%) of multi-jobbers earning under the threshold are not enrolled in their company pension as a result, compared with 23% across all employees.

Against the backdrop of the coronavirus crisis, Scottish Widows also suggested the problem could be about to “explode”. The research revealed that more than half of current multi-jobbers (55%) have taken on an additional job since the start of the pandemic – meaning that more potential earnings are not being saved into a pension, not benefiting from tax relief nor being matched by employer contributions.

Scottish Widows retirement expert, Pete Glancy, commented: “While auto-enrolment has been a game-changer for boosting the workplace pension pots of millions across the UK, those whose income comes from more than one job are losing out significantly relative to those with the same income from a single job.

“This was an issue that we first highlighted in 2018 based on research conducted at that time, and our latest research suggests that the problem is not going away.

“A shift towards more multi-jobbers will reverse some of the gains made by auto-enrolment, so the argument to remove the earnings threshold is getting stronger and should be a top priority for the next evolution of the scheme.”

    Share Story:

Recent Stories


FREE E-NEWS SIGN UP

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive breaking news and other industry announcements by email.

  Please tick here to confirm you are happy to receive third party promotions from carefully selected partners.


The UK housing market in 2024
The performance of the UK housing market in 2024 has largely exceeded many people's expectations, although challenges remain for first-time buyers due to house prices increasing and a testing rental market for many. Regional disparities, such as the North-South divide, also continue to influence housing accessibility and affordability for many buyers in pockets of the country.

Intergenerational lending
MoneyAge News Editor, Michael Griffiths, hosts Family Building Society BDMs, Amar Mashru and Arif Kara, to discuss intergenerational lending and explore ways that buyers can use family income to help increase their borrowing capacity when applying for a mortgage

Helping landlords make their cash work harder
MoneyAge Editor, Adam Cadle, talks to Family Building Society BDMs, Arif Kara and Nathan Waller, about the resilient BTL market, the wide variety of landlords that Family Building Society caters for, and how niche products like an Offset mortgage can help improve cashflow.