The Trades Union Congress (TUC) claims that lobbying by employers could see a sixth of the workforce lose pension contributions.

The Government’s Pensions White Paper backed the Turner Commission’s proposal that employers should pay three per cent of an employee’s wage into a National Pensions Savings Scheme unless the employee opts out, despite opposition from many employer groups.

Now the TUC says employers, particularly in the hospitality and retail sectors, are lobbying the government to allow a year’s wait before they have to make compulsory contributions to staff pensions.

In reply, the TUC has conducted new analysis of official statistics and says that if employers are successful it would mean that on any day, one in six workers (17.8 per cent/4.3 million) would be missing out on a pensions contribution.

Workers who frequently change jobs – as is common in some sectors – would therefore receive a significant reduction in pension contributions over their working lives.

More than one in three (36.2 per cent) workers in the hotel and restaurant sector have not been in their jobs for a year. Nine out of ten workers (90.1 per cent) in this sector do not have a pension (other than state provision). In retail more than one in five (22.1 per cent) have not been in their job for a year. Across this sector nearly seven out of ten (68.3 per cent) do not have a pension.

A 12 month waiting period would particularly hit black and Asian workers. Nearly one in four (23.5 per cent) Asian workers have been in their jobs for less than a year as have one in five black workers (20.4 per cent), compared to 17.2 per cent of white workers.

London would be worst hit with 18.9 per cent of its workers (more than half a million) missing out on pension contributions compared to Northern Ireland where 14.2 per cent have been in their job for less than a year.

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: “The Government was right to face down the employer organisations who opposed compulsory pension contributions. But some are now engaged in a last minute, under the radar attempt to rip the guts out of the new pensions system by making staff wait for a year in every new job before they start to build up a pension.

“This might not make a big difference to someone who only has one or two employers in their lifetime, but that has always been rare. And those who most need the new pensions system – those in lower paid and less secure jobs – will be the biggest losers.

“The new National Pensions Savings Scheme is not just a modest scheme to encourage a few people to save a bit more, but a pillar of the new pensions settlement. Bosses don’t get a year off before they pay the National Insurance contributions that help pay for state pensions and they should not get a holiday before they pay compulsory contributions into work pensions either.”