New pension scheme begins
Millions of workers will be affected by the new auto-enrolment pension system which comes into effect today. Employees of some large companies will automatically have a portion of their salaries put into a pension scheme, unless they opt out.
Pensions Minister Steve Webb acknowledged that a pension scheme might not suit everybody, but argued the employer and taxpayer contributions made it something that would benefit most workers.
He told Today: "The crucial point is that if people save through one of these workplace pensions it’s not only their own money going in, it’s money from the taxpayer from tax relief and from the employer as well... so this is definitely something that most people should be doing."