PLSA comments on the Taylor review of modern working practices

The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) has today commented on the release of Matthew Taylor’s review to consider how employment practices need to change in order to keep pace with modern business models: Good work: the Taylor review of modern working practices.

Graham Vidler, Director of External Affairs, Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association, commented: 

“Almost five million people or 15% of the UK workforce identify as self-employed. This has grown 25% in the last ten years at the same time as pension saving among self-employed people has fallen precipitously¹.

“New rights for those working in the gig economy are welcome and Government needs to provide clarity around dependent contractors and automatic enrolment. Dependent contractors should be treated as workers for the purposes of automatic enrolment and be automatically enrolled into a workplace pension. Government now has a window in which to address this.

“Failing to take these steps could accidentally create different classes of worker: those with automatic access to workplace pension saving and an employer contribution and those without. This is a long-term problem which we have the opportunity to remedy now.”

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Footnote 1 - Number of self-employed people – Office of National Statistics – Labour Force Survey – June 2017 (4.8 Million)

NOTES TO EDITORS:

ABOUT THE PENSIONS AND LIFETIME SAVINGS ASSOCIATION

We’re the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association; the national association with a ninety year history of helping pension professionals run better pension schemes. Our members include over 1,300 pension schemes with 20 million members and £1 trillion in assets, and over 400 businesses. They make us the voice for pensions and lifetime savings in Westminster, Whitehall and Brussels.

Our purpose is simple: to help everyone to achieve a better income in retirement. We work to get more money into retirement savings, to get more value out of those savings and to build the confidence and understanding of savers.

PRESS CONTACTS

Lee Blackwell, Head of Media & PR, Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association
T: 020 7601 1726, M: 07713 073 023, E: [email protected]

Kathryn Mortimer, Press Officer, Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association
T: 020 7601 1748, M: 07901 007713, E: [email protected]