The Pensions Regulator (TPR) chief executive, Charles Counsell, has urged companies in the gig economy to proactively begin work on enrolling their employees into pension schemes, rather than dealing with the issue on a “case by case basis”.
The comments, made as part of TPR’s podcast series, following the recent Supreme Court ruling that Uber’s employees were workers and therefore entitled to statutory rights, including being enrolled in a pension scheme.
Counsell stated:
“Now I’m very pleased to say that Uber are engaging closely with us on making that happen, so that is really good news. But I’m going to call on other organisations in the gig economy to start to recognise that the people who work for them are workers and should be eligible for pension. After all, what this is all about is helping people to have a decent standard of living in retirement.”
Work and Pensions Committee chair, Stephen Timms, echoed this call for action, noting that the issues around the gig economy will be explored in the third part of the Committee’s ongoing inquiry into pension freedoms which will start later this year.
