New briefing note on the impact of automatic enrolment into workplace pensions written by MICRA PhD researcher

17 January 2017

Hayley James, a PhD researcher at MICRA, has written a briefing note summarising the impact of auto-enrolment into workplace pensions which was published by the Pensions Policy Institute (PPI). Hayley has written the briefing note as part of her PhD, which is sponsored by the ESRC and the PPI and looks at the impact of automatic enrolment into workplace pensions on individual decision making, based on qualitative research methodology.

The briefing note considers the impact of auto-enrolment on the number of participants and value of contributions in workplace pensions, as well as the opt-out levels since the policy was introduced in 2012. It suggests that while participation has increased, average contributions have decreased, and evidence on opt-outs is unclear. This highlights the need for continued research in this area.

The Pensions Policy Institute (PPI) funds and supports a number of PhD students researching into areas of distinct policy relevance to pensions in the UK. The PhD Briefing Note Series has been set up to allow analysis undertaken as part of the PhD to be fed into public debate and reach a wider audience than would normally be the case, and to encourage researchers to consider the policy implication of their findings.

Links

Return to the full list of news stories.