Understanding Default Behaviour in Workplace Pensions: Automatic Enrolment in the UK.

This article examines the retirement savings behaviour of twenty-five 30-40 years olds automatically enrolled into a workplace pension scheme. Using qualitative interviews, the paper explores the interaction between savings motivation and willingness to adhere to, or deviate from, the pension scheme defaults. Integrating insights from different savings paradigms, including sociological approaches and behavioural economics, the paper highlights how social motives drove willingness to accept enrolment defaults. Participants’ reactions to the contribution defaults were motivated by a complex combination of factors including anchoring effects, the salience of ageing, and emotional responses such as pride, uncertainty and loss aversion. The author’s main premise is that greater attention needs to be given to the interaction between subjective feelings about saving for retirement and pension scheme design.

The Interaction Between State and Occupational Pension Schemes in the United Kingdom

SynopsisThe paper discusses the implications of the Social Security Pensions Act 1975 and associated Regulations for occupational pension scheme design and finance. Firstly, a general preface deals with currently topical matters. Secondly, integration of State and Occupational Schemes as practised up to the present time is described. Next, integration in future, whether contracted in or contracted out, is considered from the scheme design point of view, and some problems are mentioned. Finally, the financial background to the contracting-out conditions is described and some evaluation made of the terms available.