Pension Coverage 2020

Employees who had no occupational pension coverage (from current or previous employments) or personal pension cover were asked for the main reason for having no pension coverage. The affordability of pensions was cited as one of the main reasons by 35.3% of this cohort of employees, while 37% stated they never got around to organising it.

One in eleven (9.4%) of these employees felt that other sources offer a better return for investment while 6.3% said that other sources including the State pension, savings, etc. would be adequate. Too much financial risk was cited by 5.5% of employees with no occupational pension coverage while 4.2% said that they don’t understand pensions. See Table 6.1 and Figure 6.1.

Note that employees whose employer did not offer a pension scheme or who were not eligible to join the pension scheme at work, were excluded from these questions. The questions were asked only of persons who had chosen not to be part of their employer's pension scheme and also had no other pension coverage either from previous employments or from a personal pension.

At an overall level, workers aged 20 to 69 years (including self-employed and/or assisting relatives) who have no pension coverage, were asked what their expected source of income would be on retirement. The State Pension was cited as the expected source of income on retirement for 57.6% of workers with no pension coverage, while one in twelve (7.9%) stated that they would rely on savings or investments and 23% were undecided. Spouse or partner's occupational or personal pension was cited as an expected source of income on retirement by 3.7% of workers with no pension coverage. See Table 6.2.