I, like many people, believe that there’s a lot that can be done to make taking a pension out easier, and that most people believe in the principle of pensions but cannot be bothered with the paper work or having to think about it.
Companies having an opt-out system rather than making their employees apply to join a pension scheme seems to be a great idea. David Blunkett has backed this idea of making pensions more accessible, estimating that fund membership would grow by 30% through schemes such as this.
I wonder however how relectant companies would be to instigate such schemes if it is done on a voluntary basis – it would probably mean a fair bit of administration for companies to deal with, plus it would possibly cost the companies more in overall contributions, as some will currently contribute less due to their employees’ apathy.
I was guilty of not joining my company scheme until late in the day, largely because I could never find the time to think about doing it, and I dread to think how much the missed contributions would add up to by now.