Reeves looks to bring 1.5 million low-paid workers into workplace pensions

In a speech to the Resolution Foundation this morning, Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Rachel Reeves will announce that the party is considering proposals to increase pension provision. The changes would benefit as many as 1.5million people – including more than a million women –  and include a move to lower the earnings threshold for automatic enrolment in a workplace pension scheme from its current level of £10,000 to the Lower Earnings Limit for National Insurance, currently £5,772.

The threshold has risen since 2011 from £5,035 (in 2006/7 prices) to £10,000 in 2014/15 .Restoring the earnings threshold to the level of the National Insurance Lower Earnings Limit would mean that 1.5 million people who have been squeezed out of workplace pension schemes under the Tories would now be automatically included.

The plans – if accepted – would cost around £20 million, which Labour has said would be fully funded from the existing DWP budget. One funding stream under consideration would involve saving £30 million by reducing the cost of Work Capability Assessment appeals.

Here’s what Reeves will say this morning: