SEISS: Self-employed paying more into pensions than ever before | Personal Finance | Finance
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Pension saving for the first half of 2021 is up significantly for the self-employed at £690 compared to £543 during the same period in 2020 on average.
A similar and more marked increase in pension saving has been recorded among employees, whose contributions have risen from £374 in the first half of 2020 to £508 in the same period for 2021.
This works out to an increase in pension contributions of a striking 36 percent for employed workers and 27 percent for the self-employed.
This is despite the pandemic having taken the greatest toll on the self-employed.
On top of there being less Government support for them to access, 46 percent of self-employed workers reported having trouble affording basic living costs in January 2021, according to a study by the Centre for Economic Performance.
Furthermore, 37 percent of self-employed workers worked 10 hours or fewer a week during the same month.
Self-employed workers over the National Minimum Pension Age (NMPA) of 55 have started taking more cash out of their pensions, with the employed doing the reverse in the first six months of 2021 compared to 2020.
Self-employed pension holders have increased withdrawals by nearly half (47 percent) – from £9,309 to £13,722.
Employed pension holders have taken out fewer funds as withdrawals have fallen by eight percent from £10,602 to £9,765.
PensionBee highlighted the same trend back in April 2020.
Without having employee benefits as a support mechanism, the self-employed have had to turn to their pensions to secure the cash they need to fund day-to-day living expenses.
They have also lacked the kind of Government support workers have relied on.
Naturally, without sick pay or the furlough scheme available to them, self-employed workers have struggled significantly.
PensionBee’s findings were based on analysis of 39,455 contributions in the first half of 2020 and 78,549 contributions in 2021.
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