Over half the "workforce" is 'contracted out' - DWP

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Just over half of the 'official' employed working sector, or 14.3m people, are now in contracted-out money purchase arrangements, according to figures estimated by the Department of Work and Pensions.

Statistics presented yesterday on contracting-out pension scheme membership suggest there are over nine million members of the State Earnings Related Pension Scheme (SERPS) – 9.4m in 1999/2000 but then fell slightly – while there are at least 14.3m members of contracted-out money purchase and Appropriate Personal Pensions (APP). This compares, however, with Office of National Statistics data from a Labour Force Survey published this month which indicates less than half the entire UK population – recorded as under 59 million people in the 2001 census – or 27.8m people are in some form of e...

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