The number of employees saving above 7 per cent into their workplace pension has doubled from 744,000 to 1.6 million over the past seven years, new analysis has revealed.

Equiniti's research emphasised however that challenges remained, as the majority of savers (7 million) continue to contribute less than 3 per cent to their pension.

Meanwhile, median workplace pension savings for 55-64 year olds have also fallen to just £71,000 between 2014-16 and 2016-18.

Equiniti highlighted the "increasingly apparent" benefits of potential lowering the age of auto enrolment, echoing recent research from the Society of Pension Professionals, which found that 80 per cent of pension professionals favoured removing the minimum age criteria.

Equiniti pensions business CEO, Duncan Watson, commented: “Improving the saving habits of a nation was not going to be an overnight process, but auto-enrolment has caused a fundamental shift in how we think about pensions.

"Millions more people are now putting money towards their retirement and it is brilliant that the rise of contribution rates has not materially impacted the number of opt-outs.

“The new challenge is ensuring that people are saving adequately to fund their increasingly long lives with the PLSA’s income standards providing a good benchmark for the level of income required to live comfortably in retirement.

"With more than double the number of people contributing more than 7 per cent of their pensionable pay it feels like we are now moving in the right direction.

“However, there is still valuable progress to be made. The proposals to lower the minimum age of auto enrolment from 22 to 18 would be another positive step in getting those who move straight into work to start saving and begin building up a pot for their retirement.”

The DWP’s automatic enrolment review showed a significant improvement amongst younger savers earlier this year, reigniting calls from industry experts to expand the remit of auto enrolment over adequacy concerns.

Industry experts had previously raised concerns after the government failed to include recommendations from previous DWP automatic enrolment reviews, such as lowering the age threshold to 18.

However, at a reading of the Pension Schemes Bill in January, the government recomitted to a mid-2020s deadline for these proposals.

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