The government should consider ways it can extend auto-enrolment so that those with multiple jobs, who do not earn over £10,000 from one of the jobs, are eligible for a workplace pension.

Currently, to qualify for auto-enrolment a person must earn over £10,000 from one single job, meaning that those with multiple jobs can miss out. New analysis by the national charity finds that in total 250,000 people have several jobs paying under £10,000 a year- meaning they don’t qualify for auto-enrolment.

For two in five of these people the combined income from their jobs exceeds £10,000- but under current rules they still don’t get auto-enrolled into a pension. Women are particularly likely to be affected, with 72,000 missing out.

Therefore, Citizens Advice is calling for the government’s auto-enrolment review to look at how the scheme can be extended to those missing out. To date the policy has seen 7 million people enrolled into a workplace pension.

Furthermore, the research also found that employers don’t see pension contributions as a burden to their business, as just 18 per cent said it is one of their key concerns for the future. This is well below those who said they are most worried about finding good staff (44 per cent) and retaining them (36 per cent).

In addition, a survey of over 1,100 line managers, senior managers and HR managers in public, private and third sector employers based in England and Wales revealed over two thirds (70 per cent) of employers say they see some benefit of paying pension contributions.
However, the research found that many bosses do not know enough about future changes. Employers currently pay 0.8 per cent of qualifying earnings into pensions, but this is going to rise to 3 per cent by 2019.

When employers were asked how much they were going to have to pay in 2019, the majority (55 per cent) said they didn’t know. Only 6 per cent know the correct answer, while 39 per cent gave an incorrect response.

Commenting, Citizens Advice chief executive Gillian Guy said: “Too many people are shut out of a workplace pension - despite earning enough to qualify. Many people - particularly women - work several part time jobs, which helps them manage commitments like childcare or study. But while in many cases they earn over £10,000, and pay tax on this combined income, they don’t have access to a workplace pension and miss out on the opportunity to save for their retirement.

“The government needs to seize the opportunity of this year’s auto-enrolment review and use it to pave the way for helping more people get on track with pension savings. Employers clearly recognise the value of contributing to workers’ pensions but are fuzzy on the detail of how this will change over coming years. As the review of auto-enrolment progresses and contribution rates increase, changes must be clearly communicated to employers in advance so they can plan for the future of their business.”

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