Pensions: Personal Account Reforms, 2007

Initial findings from Ipsos's recent work for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) were published today. The research aimed to find out the public's reactions to a proposed new national pensions scheme. Under the Government's proposals, employees who earn at least around 1635,000 per year from a single job in the private sector, and who do not currently have a pension which their employer contributes to, would be eligible for automatic enrolment into a personal account or an equivalent workplace scheme. Individuals will have the opportunity to opt out of the scheme if they do not wish to contribute to a pension. The scheme is due to be introduced nationally in 2012 and is intended as a supplement to the state pension.

Technical details

The research involved screening a nationally representative sample of 10,508 addresses in 148 primary sampling units across England, Wales and Scotland; all adults at each address were screened to determine their eligibility for automatic enrolment into a personal account [see note 1]. Interviews were conducted face-to-face in respondents' homes between 7 July - 26 September 2007 among 754 adults who were eligible for automatic enrolment under the Government's proposals.

During the interview, respondents were given information about how the new scheme would operate, and shown examples of typical contributions based on salaries similar to their own income. Respondents were then asked their opinions of the key features of the scheme, and their likely behaviour if the accounts were introduced tomorrow.

Notes

1. Specifically, the screening identified employees aged between 22 and state pension age who were earning at least 1635,000 per year from a single job in the private sector, and did not have a pension that their employer contributed to. Only individuals fulfilling these criteria were eligible to be interviewed.
2. Key initial findings can be found on the DWP's website: www.dwp.gov.uk/pensionsreform/factsheets.asp