Hargreaves Lansdown has warned that tens of thousands of seasonal workers may not be protected under the upcoming auto-enrolment review.
The investment platform has pointed out that more than six million part-time employees have already missed out on saving for retirement, the equivalent of one in four workers. Without the benefits of auto-enrolment, these workers could face a pension crisis later in life.
Under current rules, anyone who earns more than £833 per month must be put into their employer’s pension fund.
However, next month the government will launch a wide-ranging review of the programme, and singled out seasonal workers as a point of discussion.
“Our review will look at how we can build on the success of automatic enrolment and ensure it continues to work for individual savers and employers,” stated the Department for Work and Pensions.
“We look forward to hearing from employers from all sectors, including those who employ seasonal workers, and will consider their views.”
Hargreaves urged the government not to “water down” the pension saving scheme, adding that excluding seasonal workers could do “huge damage” to their retirement years.
“The auto-enrolment review has a great opportunity to build on the strong foundations already laid and construct a framework ensuring all those needing to save for retirement are doing so,” said Nathan Long, a senior pension analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.
“This must include sweeping up the army of self-employed workers and those working part-time. With one in four workers already missing out, now is not the time to water down workplace pension saving, the focus needs to be on getting people in, not cutting them out.
“Increasingly people will have more disjointed working patterns, spanning multiple jobs of different types over their lifetime. To exclude individuals from retirement savings for even part of this could do huge damage to their life after work.”
