Today marks the final staging date for automatic enrolment after its launch in 2012 with 9 million enrolled so far.

The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association, whose members include over 1,300 pension schemes and over 400 businesses, said 9 million more people are saving into a workplace pension since auto-enrolment started, with lower than expected worker opt-out rates and higher levels of employer compliance.

The last staging date means that all employers have a legal requirement to start the process to ensure that by 1 July, all eligible workers are enrolled into a workplace pension scheme.

Nigel Peaple, deputy director of DC, lifetime savings and research at the PLSA, said this suggested that auto-enrolment has been “successful in reversing the decline in workplace savings”.

He said: “While it’s important to recognise the hard work that has been put into automatic enrolment, it’s vital we don’t become complacent.

“There remains an important communications challenge for Government, the industry and employers to ensure that people do not opt-out of their scheme when their pension contributions rise in April and that current and future generations continue to strive towards a better income in retirement.”

He added: “The next significant milestone in the implementation of automatic enrolment will be 6 April 2018, when employers and employees will see their pension contributions increase under phasing.”

The PLSA recently surveyed members about key related issues, including whether an increase in the level of minimum automatic enrolment contributions – beyond those already planned – is desirable and, if so, whether contributions could be increased without discouraging people from saving.

Feedback to the Hitting the Target consultation is currently being analysed and the final report is planned to be published later this year.