Webb hits back at Labour auto-enrolment plans

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Steve Webb has hit out at Labour's plan to lower the auto-enrolment threshold, saying it would leave low earners with a pension of less than £2 a week at retirement.

Responding to questions in the House of Commons, the pensions minister rejected claims the government had "stealthily been depriving more low-paid women of pension contributions every year". Currently anyone earning less than £10,000 annually will not be automatically enrolled, but Labour has pledged to cut the threshold to £5,772 if elected. But Webb said a worker earning £6,000 a year would put just 8.8p a week into a pension at current contribution rates, giving a weekly pension of £1.93 after 35 years of saving. Webb's Labour shadow, Gregg McClymont, said workers earning just u...

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