Pension pots could be boosted by £46k as Labour urged to make key change

Campaigners are calling on the Labour government to introduce new rules that could provide an extra £46,000 to pension pots.

They want Chancellor Rachel Reeves to lower the age threshold for auto-enrolment and remove the lower earnings limit.

Scottish Widows says this could help boost the average future pension pot for 18-year-olds by 45 percent.

An extra 4.7million people could receive pension contributions from their employers if the rules are changed.

Currently, employers have to contribute a minimum of three percent while employees must put in five percent. However, this only applies to workers from the age of 22.

Lowering the threshold to 18 would see would mean young people would benefit from an extra four years of pension savings.

Pete Glancy, head of pensions policy at Scottish Widows, said: “The introduction of auto-enrolment in 2012 was a game-changer, but now it’s time to scale that up.

“Reducing the age threshold to 18, lowering earning limits, bringing in self-employed workers, and upping default rates all build on the existing framework and would be incredibly powerful in getting more people in the UK saving enough for the future, while also looking at how people’s financial goals complement each other, rather than compete.”

There are four ways the Government could change the rules to help boost the pension pots of youngsters.

The first is lowering the threshold form 22 to 18. Scottish Widows say that this could add 15 percent to pension pots.

Another option is removing the earnings threshold of £10,000. This could allow those in low-paid work, such as part-timers, to boost their future pots.

It would take away employers' ability to deduct the lower earnings limit from an employee’s salary before calculating their pension contributions.

Finally, the Government could raise default contributions to 12 percent, taking more from workers' pay now to help them save more for their pension pots.