On the go: Fewer than a quarter (23 per cent) of blue-collar construction workers are participating in a workplace pension, according to new figures from the Department for Work and Pensions.
The data, obtained by trade union Unite in a freedom of information request, shows that 349,000 blue-collar construction workers – skilled trade occupations, elementary occupations and process, plant and machine operatives – are paying into a pension.
According to estimates from the Office for National Statistics, there are 1.5m blue-collar workers employed in this sector.
The union stated that several factors are resulting in these individuals not being auto-enrolled.
Some on them are self-employed, while others are using umbrella companies – where workers are required to make both employers’ and employees’ contributions – making them unaffordable in many occasions. Some are employed via short-term engagements, which results in individuals believing it is not worth making pension payments, the trade union said.
Gail Cartmail, Unite’s assistant general secretary, said: “These figures show that the government’s auto-enrolment pension policies are failing construction workers. This failure will result in hundreds of thousands of construction workers being forced into poverty when they retire.
“Rather than tackle the factors that make it difficult or impossible for construction workers to contribute to the auto-enrolment pension regime, the government has acted like an ostrich and chosen to ignore the problem.”
Ms Cartmail continued: “Until rampant casualisation and bogus self-employment are tackled in the construction industry, workers are not going to be eligible or prepared to register for a workplace pension.”
A DWP spokesperson said: “A record 671,000 eligible construction workers are now saving into workplace pensions, up from 232,000 five years ago. Almost four in five (79 per cent) eligible private sector construction industry workers were saving into workplace pensions in 2018.
“Since 2012, more than 10m people have been automatically enrolled into workplace pensions.”
These figures differ from those quoted by Unite as they also include white-collar construction workers.
