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<p>Automatic enrolment was designed to help more people save for their retirement,
including groups who historically have been less likely to save, such as women and
lower earners. The policy is working, with over 7.3 million people enrolled by the
end of January 2017. Around two thirds of women are in the eligible target population
for automatic enrolment and 10 million workers are estimated to be newly saving or
saving more as a result of Automatic Enrolment by 2018, of which 3.6 million are women.</p><p>
</p><p>Since the introduction of automatic enrolment, the private sector has seen
the largest increases in participation in workplace pensions and by 2014 there was
no gender gap in participation. As of 2015 female participation in the private sector
had actually risen to a slightly higher level of 70 per cent compared to 69 per cent
for male eligible employees. This represents a 30 percentage point increase for women
from 2012 (whilst participation for men has increased by 26 percentage points) continuing
the upward trend since the introduction of automatic enrolment.</p><p> </p><p>In addition,
the Government’s decision to freeze the value of the automatic enrolment earnings
trigger at £10,000 in 2017/18 is estimated to result in around 70,000 extra people
being brought into automatic enrolment of whom around 50,000 (75 per cent) are women.</p><p>
</p><p>As part of my Department’s review of automatic enrolment, which we have embarked
on this year, we will look at how we can build on its success so that it continues
to meet the needs of individual savers, including women. In addition to considering
those not currently benefitting from the policy, this review will look at strengthening
the evidence base concerning future contributions, and how we can maximise engagement
with work place pension saving.</p><p>The government believes that employee share
ownership in its various forms can help drive productivity and increase employee engagement.
To support employee share ownership the government provides four tax-advantaged employee
share schemes, which provide certain tax benefits for individuals acquiring shares
in the company they work for.</p>
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