UK Government's Flagship Pension Reform Steams Ahead as Two Million Workers Enrol

The UK government's flagship pension reform is steaming ahead and has now enrolled more than two million workers.

The Pensions Regulator (TPR), the watchdog for workplace pensions in Britain, revealed the latest figures for the auto-enrolment scheme.

The programme, which began in October 2012 and sees employees automatically being placed into a pension scheme by their employer, is rolling out from the largest to the smallest employers across the country.

"It is great news that auto-enrolment is beginning to make a positive difference to the retirement prospects of workers," said Steve Webb, the Pensions Minister.

He added: "The changes to workplace pensions being introduced now are set to help millions more people to achieve many happy new years in the future."

TPR also disclosed that December's automatic enrolment registration report showed that more than 3,500 employers have submitted an online declaration of compliance.

"If they have not done it already I would hope the first thing every employer does when they get back to work after the Christmas break is to check their staging date and prepare for automatic enrolment," said Charles Counsell, executive director of automatic enrolment at TPR.

He added: "The clock is ticking and if employers don't plan ahead they could face unnecessary challenges and costs in the New Year."