Half a million Britons are now opting out of their pension every year
Lubbock Fine, 6 July 2026
Lubbock Fine, 6 July 2026
The number of people opting out of their auto-enrolment pension is now running at 500,000*, according to our research.
Perhaps most worrying is that 9.3%, or 158,000, of those under the age of 30 who are entitled to auto-enrolment are opting out. Making early payments into your pension can have an outsized impact on the final value of the pension.
The legal minimum auto-enrolment involves a payment of 4% of qualifying earnings from the employee, 1% of tax relief and 3% from the employer. It was first introduced in 2012 to help fill the huge shortfall in pensions saving that exists in the UK.
A further 139,000 individuals (9.4% of those eligible) aged 30 to 40 also opted out of auto enrolment in the last year.
For many individuals, their auto-enrolment pension is a critical building block of the retirement savings. Failing to build up that part of their retirement savings could seriously undermine the standard of living they can afford on retirement.
Director, Andrew Tricker say “It’s a real concern that so many younger people are opting out of auto-enrolment. The maths shows that if you want to build up a healthy pension pot you should invest from as early an age as possible.”
"Many young people are living on such a tight budget that skipping that auto-enrolment contribution seems like the only way to make ends meet."
“They have student debt to pay back, the pressure to build up a deposit for their first home and the cost-of-living crisis. It is not surprising they aren’t saving for a date that is 30 years away.”
“Perhaps one solution to this could be for the DWP to provide more information to the individual on what the impact of opting out might be.”
If you're unsure whether opting out of auto-enrolment is the right decision for your circumstances, or you want to understand how early pension contributions could affect your long-term retirement savings, Lubbock Fine Wealth Management can help.
Our Chartered Financial Planners can review your current pension position, model the long-term impact of opting in versus opting out, and help you build a savings strategy that balances short-term financial pressures with long-term retirement security.
Get in touch with our team to discuss your pension and wider financial planning needs.
*Data provided by the Department for Work & Pensions to Lubbock Fine. Year-end December 31 2023 – most up to date figures available.
