After years of groundwork, in Parliament with the help of Richard Holden's friend and colleague Jonathan Gullis MP, his Auto-Enrolment Bill passed its latest stage in Parliament.
The wheels are now in motion to lower the earnings limits and age of people who are auto-enrolled in their pensions to 18. It will be worth a huge amount of money over a long period to people in lower-paid work, and to people who start work at age 18. This will mean that everybody has their own pension in addition to their state pension in retirement and has that comfort in old age.
Amazingly, due to the compound interest gained through incremental savings over their career, a full-time worker on the national living wage would gain almost an extra £100,000 as a result.
Currently, around a quarter of people in North West Durham do not have their own workplace pension. When this change comes through, it will bring almost £3.5 billion to people in our area for total life savings and trillions across the U.K. over the coming decades. This will be transformative - especially for decent, hardworking people in North West Durham who don't go to university (instead start work at 18) and for women, many of whom do part-time work at points in their lives.
Commenting, Richard Holden MP said:
"This Bill will help address a serious long-term issue of savings and comfortable retirements. It is great to see my hard work in Parliament on your behalf paying off!"