Auto-enrolment is mostly branded as a pay cut during bad economic times by the national press, but balanced with some mentioning 'free money' there is optimism for the future.

The Daily Mail’s Joanna Robinson described auto-enrolment as "minimum contributions taken directly from the employee’s wages each month and invested into a pension scheme”.

The theme of a pay cut also came up in The Telegraph where Emma Simon reported the largest employers will today "automatically deduct a pension contribution from their employees’ pay and invest it into a retirement fund". She stressed that the pay cut in difficult economic times will see staff opting out.

She said there is a need for a new scheme “between costly gold-plated final salary schemes… and riskier defined contribution schemes”, like Morrisons’ ‘cash balance’ pension, to offer a guaranteed pension pot and certainty for workers.

The Guardian reflected the concern in their headline ‘are you ready for less take-home pay?’ and journalist Rupert Jones asks if we are ready for Pension Minister Steve Webb’s "truly radical social change".

Jones wrote: “Inevitably, the first time some employees will realise something is afoot is when they get their payslip and see that money has been deducted without their consent.”

He says most will see this as a pay cut but experts (or, those "aiming to grab a chunk of the auto-enrolment market") are urging workers to stick with it or lose tax breaks and employer contributions (free money). He drew similarities between Britain’s auto-enrolment and New Zealand’s KiwiSaver introduced five years ago.

However, The Independent is more positive as Chiara Cavaglieri’s article presented auto-enrolment as the "ideal antidote" to national apathy towards pensions.

The Mirror said auto-enrolment means lower paid workers will save for retirement for the first time, with added employer contributions, but their business writer Tricia Phillips said “auto-enrolment may not be the saviour the government is hoping for”.

The Sunday Sun was more positive about 'free money', saying the "landmark scheme" will enable millions of workers to save for less than the cost of a pint – for an average salary of £20,000 it would be £2.37 a week at the minimum 0.8 per cent of earnings, according to NEST. Employers would contribute almost £3 and almost 60p would be added in tax relief, making up around £6 weekly.

The Sun emphasised the contributions from the employer and tax relief while compound interest will increase your pension pot. Their money expert Jasmine Birtles wrote: “We’re all living longer in this country (which is a good thing of course) and we have to find more money to keep ourselves going for all that time… auto-enrolment is a perfect way to begin.”

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