How much is in your workplace pension?

Is it just me or is EVERYONE else on holiday? Hello to the three other people out there not on the beach.

This week, I have a question for the three of you. New data from the Department of Work and Pensions shows that 9 in 10 eligible employees are saving into a workplace pension. And a study we ran last year showed the average reported balance in these pensions is about £15,000. But 3 in 10 people have no idea who manages their pension or where it’s held. The lack of awareness is exacerbated by the fact that we move from job to job and so most of us will have more than one pension in the background.

Frankly, it’s a bit of a mess! So, here are some tips on what you can do and – if retired yourself – something to nag the kids or younger family members about!

What are the rules?

If you're over 21 and earn more than £10,000 a year, your company has to offer you a pension. Even if it’s just you that they employ.

Then they have to pay a minimum contribution of 3% on earnings, between about £6,000 and £50,000. And you have 5% of your earnings siphoned off to the pension too, making a total annual contribution amount of 8%. So, by way of example, if you earn £40,000 a year, your workplace pension contributions will tick up by around £2,700 a year and about £1,000 of this will come from your employer.

This scheme, known as auto-enrolment, started in 2012 for larger firms. And here’s the thing. Some people have now been auto-enrolled for long enough to have built up interesting chunks of money. About which too many are still in the dark.

Your call to action

At Boring Money, we're working to launch full comparison tables for these important workplace pension accounts. So, you can check out your workplace pension, see how it’s doing and work out whether to move it when you change jobs. Or stay put.

A key part of what we do is to add customer experience to all our reviews. And this is where we need you. Could you leave a review of your workplace pension provider? This will mean that when we go fully live, we do so with your shared experience of service, communications, performance, value for money and more. I’d really appreciate it.

If you’re thinking – well, I might Holly, but I don’t even know where my workplace pension is – then, have a rummage. Ask your employer. Find out how to log in and have a look. You might well have more money sitting here than you realise.

Our essential guide to Workplace Pensions has loads more info, or this piece will help you to work out if your current provider is any good. More coming soon…

Thanks everyone, have a great weekend - whether on the beach, at home or preparing for the thrilling culmination of Love Island 2025! (Groan… my daughter watches this endlessly and I can’t wait for the end of all those bottoms, blah blah and twerpy narrator!)

Holly