What can Canada learn from Britain’s pension reforms?

A comparison of pension systems in Canada and Britain isn’t an apples-to-apples exercise — or even apples to grapefruits. But when it comes to pension reform, there are definitely overarching lessons for Canada.

Britain’s reforms, of which auto-enrolment is a signature component, got underway in October 2012 with the country’s largest employers mandated to automatically put employees into their workplace pension schemes.

Under the regulations, there are minimum contributions for both employers and employees (growing from 2% in 2012 to 8% in 2019) with a provision for employees to opt out. Contributions are split, with staff paying slightly more by 2018, between employees and employers. Since it’s a phased-in approach, more than one million small employers have yet to reach their staging dates.

Read the full article at Benefits Canada.

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