Research from Prudential UK, one of Britain’s biggest pension providers, suggests that people are increasingly realising the importance of saving for their retirement. Although strong support for bosses to contribute to their workers’ schemes is hardly surprising, the fact that over six out of ten people think that employees should be made to make payments may come as a surprise. In addition, given the well known apathy of many people towards pension provision, the levels of salary which individuals should be saving may seem higher than expected with 22% of people calling for 9-10% of each employee’s salary being paid straight into a company scheme.

Key findings, from a UK-wide survey of 1,000 people:
– 62% back salary deductions for workers into company pension schemes;
– 75% think bosses should also be made to make payments;
– nearly a quarter of people (22%) think individuals should be putting 9-10% of their salary into company pension;
– Roughly one in five people (19%) believe bosses should also put 9-10% of individual’s salary into the scheme.

Although there is increasing awareness of the need to save for retirement, the level of understanding about the right amount for individuals to pay into a scheme is an area that is less well understood. Of those people who thought individuals should automatically pay into a company scheme:
– 15% of people thought the contribution should be from 1-4% of salary;
– 26% thought it should be from 5-8%;
– 28% thought it should be 9-15%;
– 12% thought it should be over 16%;
– 19% of respondents did not venture an opinion.