Solving the problem of pensions for the self-employed

Stephanie Hawthorne says millions of the UK’s self-employed are being left out of pensions

clock • 11 min read
Some four million of the UK's population are self-employed
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Some four million of the UK's population are self-employed

The powerhouse of the UK economy is its forgotten army of self-employed workers. Yet little has been done, for the most part, to improve their dismal retirement prospects. Omitted from the UK’s 2012 pension reforms some 3.5 million self-employed people of working age shockingly save nothing in a private pension. They are left out in the cold.

Yet auto-enrolment (AE) has boosted workplace pension participation among employees earning more than £10,000 a year to a record four in five of the population. By contrast, only one in five of ...

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