Employee contributions into private sector defined contribution occupational pension schemes reached £3.2bn in the first quarter of 2026, according to ONS data.

This figure represents an increase of around £600m from £2.6bn in Q1 of 2025. Employer contributions also increased significantly, rising from £6.2bn in Q1 2025 to £6.8bn in Q1 2026.

Active membership of private sector DC schemes edged up by 30,000 over the same period to 11.5 million. Deferred membership of private sector DC schemes increased from 22.1 million in Q1 2025 to 22.9 million in Q1 2026.

Damon Hopkins, head of DC workplace savings at consultancy Broadstone, says: “Employers are making an enormous financial contribution to later-life savings, making it all the more important that businesses ensure this money is being used as effectively as possible, through well-designed pension provision, strong governance and meaningful employee engagement.

“Auto-enrolment has transformed pension participation, but participation and adequacy are not the same thing. For many workers, particularly those on lower or middle incomes, the more important question is whether the amounts being saved today will ultimately provide the standard of living they expect in retirement.”

While Hopkins expressed hope that consolidation and pensions dashboards should make retirement savings easier to manage, he also believed there was a wider challenge is ensuring workers remain engaged with their pension throughout their careers.

Maurice Titley, commercial director of data and dashboards at insurtech Lumera, says: “These figures underline the continued expansion of private sector DC pension saving across the UK, with employee contributions increasing and millions of workers continuing to save through workplace pensions.

“The increase in employee contributions to £3.2 billion is particularly encouraging and demonstrates the scale of long-term saving taking place through workplace pension schemes, underpinned by automatic enrolment.”

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