Participation in workplace pension schemes and the effect of provision: evidence from the United Kingdom

Presenter: Bernardo Nunes, University of Stirling

We investigate the effect of public policies enforcing workplace pension plan provision on participation rates. Using British data from a period before the pension reform started in 2012, our empirical strategy identifies the potential opt-in rate among employees who haven’t been offered a pension plan by an employer, had they been offered the opportunity to join a scheme. We find that universal provision alone could generate a major impact on aggregate participation rates. We do not find evidence that this success would be conditional on the existence of mechanisms imposed by law concerning the way workers are enrolled.