Nearly 40% of employees do not take advantage of the matching pension contributions offered by their employer. According to the third annual Investment/DC choices survey by DC Link, staff could be missing out on contributions of up to 5% per year.

A further 20% of employees in defined contribution (DC) schemes only pay the minimum into their occupational scheme. Staff aged between 20 and 30 years are the worst offenders, with just 50% qualifying for the maximum employer-matched contributions. Overall, the number of staff who pay over and above the maximum amount employers are prepared to match has fallen from 11% last year to 10%.