DWP has published data on workplace pension participation and private pension statistics:
Workplace pension participation and savings trends of employees: 2009 to 2025 - GOV.UK
Private pension statistics commentary: July 2026 - GOV.UK
Helen Morrissey, head of retirement analysis, Hargreaves Lansdown:
“The amount of money going into pensions is booming. According to the data, an estimated £15.9bn of individual contributions went into private pensions in 2024-25. This is up 9% from £14.6 billion in 2023 to 2024. Total annual workplace pension savings for eligible savers was £166.1 billion in 2025 up from £159.2 billion the previous year. With an estimated eight in ten employees now saving into a workplace pension, it shows that auto-enrolment is working for many people.
However, there are some areas of concern. Pension saving among the self-employed is up slightly but remains low. Only an estimated 370,000 self-employed people contributed to a pension in 2024-25. It may be the case that this group contributes on a more ad-hoc basis and may not necessarily contribute to a pension every year, but the fact remains that far more needs to be done to encourage the self-employed to use pensions for their retirement planning.
Another interesting note is around workplace pension opt-out rates. These have remained stable for years but there is more volatility around new savers opting out. This currently hovers at around 11-12% and hints that cost-of-living pressures continue to loom large for this group. At a time when the Government is looking at pension adequacy and the potential for increasing auto-enrolment minimums, it shows the importance of balancing saving for tomorrow while being able to meet your costs today.
The personal pension data also showed a host of interesting trends. People are making the most of the pension flexibilities with an estimated £124.7bn of taxable payments withdrawn from pensions since 2015.
This flexibility is clearly valued by people who may access their pensions to supplement income if they were to be made redundant or decide to phase into retirement over several years. We see that 42% of individuals who have received taxable flexible pension payments, since flexibility changes were introduced in 2015, made their first withdrawal while aged 55-59, while a further 27% were aged 60-64. Being able to access your pension early is extremely useful, but it is important that people do not risk running out of money later in their retirement. Those who take a taxable income from their pension and then decide to rebuild it will also need to be aware that they will be affected by the Money Purchase Annual Allowance which restricts contributions to £10,000 per year.”
Notes to Editors
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