Key takeaways
Pensions commission returns to tackle savings gap
Government responds to growing retirement income concerns.
Enrolment reforms back on the table
Lower age and earnings thresholds may be reconsidered.
Employers urged to prepare for future changes
Review pension policies to stay ahead of reform plans.
Government revives landmark Pensions Commission to avert future retirement crisis
On 21 July 2025, the Department for Work and Pensions and HM Treasury announced the revival of the landmark Pensions Commission, to examine why tomorrow’s pensioners are projected to be poorer than today’s and identify possible future reforms, including to the pensions auto-enrolment regime.
The Government has decided to revive the Pension’s Commission because it is concerned that:
Retirees in 2050 are on course for 8% less private pension income than those retiring today;
4-in-10 (nearly 15 million) people are not saving enough for retirement;
Almost half of working-age adults (45%) are saving nothing at all into a pension;
Lower earners, the self-employed and some ethnic minorities are the least likely to have pension savings; and
There is a stark gender pensions gap of 48% in private pension wealth between women and men.
The revived Pension Commission, which will run until 2027, will:
Consider the long-term future of our pensions system;
Examine the complex barriers which mean people do not save enough for their retirement; and
Identify possible future reforms.
The Pension Commission of 2006 led to the roll-out of pensions auto-enrolment. Whilst this led to an increase in the number of working adults saving for retirement, the government recognises that auto-enrolment saving levels have remained low – with around 1-in-2 private sector workers only saving around the minimum contribution level (currently 8% or less of earnings).
It seems likely that this revived review will, amongst other potential reforms, perhaps reconsider the following changes to the auto-enrolment regime first suggested back in 2017:
Reducing the lower age threshold for auto-enrolment from 22 to 18; and
Changing the lower end of the qualifying earnings band for auto-enrolment from the lower earnings limit to the first pound a worker earns.
We will report any developments.
