Blacktower’s Nexus Fund Reaches £100m Milestone

Statistics from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) have shown that a record number of savers are now members of workplace pension schemes.

The figures show that the proportion of employees who are contributing to a company pension has risen significantly in the five years since Auto-Enrolment (AE) began.

AE was introduced in 2012 and makes it compulsory for employers to automatically enrol all eligible employees into a pension scheme unless the employee actively opts out. An employee is eligible for AE if they are aged between 22 and the state pension age and have a salary of more than £10,000.

In 2012, prior to AE, 47 per cent of UK employees were enrolled on a company pension scheme. This figure has now risen to 73 per cent in 2017. In other words, there are over 9.5 million more people saving for their retirement than there were five years ago, and it’s mainly thanks to AE.

Norway is well-known for its high living costs. The Nordic country is one of Europe’s most expensive countries in which to live, with property and food prices much higher than the UK.

But exactly how much more expensive is everyday living? According to figures from Numbeo, the cost of living is 48.5% higher than the United Kingdom, with rent almost 15% higher and consumer prices almost a third higher. And if you’re a fast food fan, The Economist’s Big Mac Index 2017 revealed that Norwegian’s pay the second highest price in the world for the burger.