Northern Ireland Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings Pension Results published

The Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings Pension Results 2019 was published today by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency.

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Key findings

Key findings include:

• The proportion of employees in Northern Ireland who belonged to a workplace pension scheme in April 2019 was unchanged over the year at 74 per cent. This is the first time in the last seven years that pension membership has not increased.
• Nine out of ten public sector employees (91 per cent) and two out of three (65 per cent) private sector employees were members of a workplace pension scheme in 2019. This is an increase of 11 percentage points (pps) for public sector employees and 42pps for private sector employees since the introduction of automatic enrolment seven years ago.
• Occupational Defined Benefit pension has been the most common form of workplace pension for the past ten years, ranging from a high of 36 per cent in 2009 to a low of 26 per cent in 2017, and was 30 per cent in 2019. Occupational Defined Contribution has increased more than sixfold in the last ten years, from 4 per cent to 25 per cent making it the second most common pension in 2019.
• Pension membership varies widely by industry with those employed in ‘public administration and defence’ most likely to have a pension (97 per cent) and those in ‘Accommodation and food service activities’ least likely (44 per cent).

Commentary

• An estimated three quarters (74 per cent) of employees belonged to a workplace pension in 2019; no change from the proportion estimated in 2018. Over the year there was very little change in pension membership across all age groups, sex, occupation groups and sectors following large changes in the distribution/make up of pension membership between 2012 and 2018.
• The proportion of employees in Northern Ireland (NI) who belonged to a workplace pension scheme increased from 44 per cent in 2012 when automatic enrolment began to 74 per cent in 2018 when automatic enrolment was considered fully rolled out. 2019 was the first year since the pension reforms were introduced that the overall proportion of membership did not increase.
• Although Occupational Defined Benefit has remained the most common pension scheme in the past ten years, it has been increases in Occupational Defined Contribution and Group Personal pensions that has led to the overall increase in pension membership since 2012.
• Since the introduction of automatic enrolment the largest gains were recorded for 22-29 year olds, whose pension membership has risen from 25 per cent to 75 per cent and is now above the NI average; and private sector employees, whose pension membership has similarly almost tripled from 23 per cent to 65 per cent. In terms of industries, the largest increases were recorded in agriculture, forestry and fishing and administrative and support service activities, both with increases of more than 50pps. Lower paid occupations such as caring, leisure and other service occupations, Sales and customer service occupations and process, plant and machine operatives, reported the greatest gains, all increasing by at least 40pps.

Notes to editors: 

1. The statistical bulletin and associated tables are available at NI Ashe Pension Results
2. The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency wishes to thank the participating businesses for taking part in the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings.
3. The Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) is a UK wide survey that provides a wide range of information on earnings, including workplace pension type by age, gender, occupation and industry. The sample comprises approximately 1 per cent of all jobs in NI covered by Pay As You Earn (PAYE) schemes, and results relate to the pay-period including 10th April 2019. ASHE relates to employees only, and does not cover self-employed jobs.
4. ASHE collects information on employee membership of the current employer’s pension scheme. This does not include preserved rights in any former employer’s pension scheme or pensions paid by a former employer.  Employees are defined as making contributions to a workplace pension if they have made a contribution, or had a contribution made on their behalf, in the survey reference period.
5. The Pensions Act 2014 was an update of the Pensions Act 2008 which put in place a framework for workplace pension reform designed to increase private pension saving in the UK. One of the main reforms was that, from October 2012, all eligible employees were to be automatically enrolled into a qualifying workplace pension scheme (although workers were able to opt out of their employer’s scheme if they wish). This bulletin provides comparative analysis between the most recent year and 2012, the reporting period prior to the initial introduction of automatic enrolment.
6. Automatic Enrolment applies to eligible employees aged between 22 years and State Pension age who are not already participating in a qualifying workplace pension scheme. When automatic enrolment was introduced in October 2012, eligible employees were those earning more than £8,105 per year (threshold increased to £10,000 in April 2016).  It was introduced in stages, (New timetable clarifies automatic enrolment starting dates) based on the size of the employer’s PAYE scheme on 1 April 2012, beginning with those employers with 250 or more employees and rolling-out to all employers by February 2018. At the time of the ASHE 2018 survey, the roll-out of automatic enrolment was complete.
7. Further information on automatic enrolment can be found on the NI Direct website at Enrolling into a pension at work
8. For media enquiries, please contact DfE Press Office on 028 9052 9604. Outside office hours, please contact the Duty Press Officer on 028 9037 8110.
9. Feedback is welcomed and should be addressed to: Responsible statistician, Ashleigh Warwick, Economic & Labour Market Statistics (ELMS), ashleigh.warwick@nisra.gov.uk or Tel: 028 9025 5174.
10. Follow NISRA on Twitter @NISRA

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