CBI/Scottish Widows Pensions Survey 2019

The new CBI and Scottish Widows survey represents 240 businesses of all sizes, sectors, regions and nations in the UK, providing a unique insight into business perspectives on the future of workplace pensions. Discover views from business leaders on issues ranging from automatic enrolment and engagement with pensions, to the regulation of defined benefit scheme funding and pensions tax.  

Key findings at-a-glance 

The latest pensions survey shows interesting trends: businesses see strong reasons to provide competitive pensions, and automatic enrolment is also thriving; however, employer support is critical to its future success. The cost of defined benefit schemes remains a concern, while educating the public about their pensions showed up as a clear business priority. 

• 71% of businesses believe that for their employees to have sufficient levels of retirement income, they will need to make higher contributions to automatic enrolment schemes at some point in the future. However, 54% believe that the cost of contributions is the biggest challenge in adapting to automatic enrolment.  
• 66% of firms reported that defined benefit schemes impact their ability to invest in capital to boost growth and productivity. 66% also believe that it impacts their ability to invest in jobs and skills.  
• 76% of business leaders think that the government should prioritise engaging people with their pension, while 58% think the focus should be on preserving the tax relief system.  

Identifying business challenges and priorities is only the first step. The CBI will continue to work with politicians and policy makers to ensure that future policy works for business. In the coming months, the CBI will focus on: 

• Encouraging government to take steps to help firms who want to continue to sponsor their defined benefit schemes but are struggling with costs 
• Boosting the number of workings saving for their retirement by supporting the targeted extension of automatic enrolment to more workers 
• Encouraging businesses and government to focus on improving employee engagement with their pension savings to boost voluntary contributions 
• Ensuring government maintains the current tax relief framework, as the best way to support higher levels of saving into workplace pensions.

In partnership with: