Requiring Auto-Enrollment: Lessons from UK Retirement Plans

The brief’s key findings are:

• Policymakers worldwide are concerned that workers are not saving enough for retirement, in part due to a lack of coverage by employer-based plans.
• The United Kingdom has recently completed a nationwide rollout of auto-enrollment, with the ability to opt out.
• In the wake of this initiative, participation rates have jumped to around 90 percent at medium and large employers and 70 percent at small employers.
• Most of the increase is among workers making the minimum default contribution, but the share contributing at higher rates has also risen significantly.