Upping the earnings threshold for auto-enrolment into occupational pension schemes will hit women and part-time, agency and temporary staff, shadow pensions minister Rachel Reeves says.
The government yesterday said auto-enrolment and NEST would go ahead from 2012, with no exemption for any business but with a three month grace period before employers must enroll staff into a pension scheme. Pensions minister Steve Webb said auto-enrolment would only apply when a person earns more than £7,475 per year, considerably higher than the previously proposed level of £5,035. Reeves' questioning on Monday forced Webb to reveal up to 500,000 women and a similar number from black and minority ethnic communities will be excluded from auto-enrolment by the threshold hike. "Ove...
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