Ministers should raise employee and employer pension contributions, with a recommendation of a minimum level of 12 per cent under serious consideration by the second Pensions Commission, The i Paper understands.
Pensions commissioner Baroness Jeannie Drake said the “solution” to Britain’s pension crisis is “more saving” and that it is “clear the best route to delivering this” is through the automatic enrolment contribution rate.
She said the commission is “still working” on how to support lower earners and those in “relatively stressful circumstances” – including private renters – after the Government recently asked it to “look at lower income people”.
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‘Heartbreaking’ shot wins Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Caption: EMBARGOED TO 2330 TUESDAY OCTOBER 13 PRINT USE ONLY. NO SALES, NO ARCHIVE, NO CROPPING. CAN ONLY BE USED IN CONNECTION WITH THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM’S WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR COMPETITION 2026 MANDATORY CREDIT: Agorastos Papatsanis/Wildlife Photographer of the Year Copyright in this image is retained by the photographer. THE FOLLOWING MUST APPEAR CLEARLY AND LEGIBLY IN EDITORIAL COPY: Wildlife Photographer of the Year is developed and produced by the Natural History Museum, London. USAGE RESTRICTIONS: Maximum number of images within a publication or website is up to 20 (twenty) images across multiple editions and pages unless otherwise agreed in writing between the publication and the Natural History Museum. All front cover requests must be approved by the Natural History Museum and the photographer.
Undated handout photo issued by Natural History Museum of fluorescent fungi, by Agorastos Papatsanis, from Greece, the winner of Plants and Fungi category in Wildlife Photographer of the Year. Issue date: Tuesday October 13, 2026. PA Photo. Photo credit should read: Agorastos Papatsanis/PA Wire
NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.
Photographer: Agorastos Papatsanis
Provider: Agorastos Papatsanis/PA Wire
Source: PA
The winner has been crowned for the Natural History Museum’s annual Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, ahead of an exhibition of the photos opening to the public later in the week.
Winner ‘says it all’
The title went to Federico Veronesi, from Italy, for his image, “The Aftermath”, showing an elephant lifting the body of her dead calf. The chair of the judging panel described it as an emotional “gut punch” and “heartbreakingly poignant”.
Caption: EMBARGOED TO 2330 TUESDAY OCTOBER 13 ONLINE USE ONLY. NO SALES, NO ARCHIVE, NO CROPPING. CAN ONLY BE USED IN CONNECTION WITH THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM’S WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR COMPETITION 2026 MANDATORY CREDIT: James Lewin/Wildlife Photographer of the Year Copyright in this image is retained by the photographer. THE FOLLOWING MUST APPEAR CLEARLY AND LEGIBLY IN EDITORIAL COPY: Wildlife Photographer of the Year is developed and produced by the Natural History Museum, London. USAGE RESTRICTIONS: Maximum number of images within a publication or website is up to 20 (twenty) images across multiple editions and pages unless otherwise agreed in writing between the publication and the Natural History Museum. All front cover requests must be approved by the Natural History Museum and the photographer.
Undated handout photo issued by Natural History Museum of a young bull elephant spraying a group of zebra at a waterhole in Kenya, by James Lewin, from United Kingdom, the winner of Animals in their Environment category in Wildlife Photographer of the Year. Issue date: Tuesday October 13, 2026. PA Photo. Photo credit should read: James Lewin/PA Wire
NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.
Photographer: James Lewin
Provider: James Lewin/PA Wire
Source: PA
Caption: EMBARGOED TO 2330 TUESDAY OCTOBER 13 PRINT USE ONLY. NO SALES, NO ARCHIVE, NO CROPPING. CAN ONLY BE USED IN CONNECTION WITH THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM’S WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR COMPETITION 2026 MANDATORY CREDIT: Federico Veronesi/Wildlife Photographer of the Year Copyright in this image is retained by the photographer. THE FOLLOWING MUST APPEAR CLEARLY AND LEGIBLY IN EDITORIAL COPY: Wildlife Photographer of the Year is developed and produced by the Natural History Museum, London. USAGE RESTRICTIONS: Maximum number of images within a publication or website is up to 20 (twenty) images across multiple editions and pages unless otherwise agreed in writing between the publication and the Natural History Museum. All front cover requests must be approved by the Natural History Museum and the photographer.
Undated handout photo issued by Natural History Museum of a female elephant carrying a dead calf in Huab River Valley in Namibia, by Federico Veronesi, from Italy, the winner of Wildlife Photographer of the Year. Issue date: Tuesday October 13, 2026. PA Photo. Photo credit should read: Federico Veronesi/PA Wire
NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.
Photographer: Federico Veronesi
Provider: Federico Veronesi/PA Wire
Source: PA
An elephant-themed image also triumphed in the ‘Animals in their Environment’ category with James Lewin’s shot, one of five British photographers to win a category.
Telling animals’ stories
The winning entry from Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year featured a dung beetle pushing its cargo, which judges praised for revealing “an entire story”.
Loren Elliott from the USA won the Photojournalist Story award with a shot of a coyote walking above the Bay of San Francisco.
Caption: EMBARGOED TO 2330 TUESDAY OCTOBER 13 PRINT USE ONLY. NO SALES, NO ARCHIVE, NO CROPPING. CAN ONLY BE USED IN CONNECTION WITH THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM’S WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR COMPETITION 2026 MANDATORY CREDIT: Oscar Whitfield/Wildlife Photographer of the Year Copyright in this image is retained by the photographer. THE FOLLOWING MUST APPEAR CLEARLY AND LEGIBLY IN EDITORIAL COPY: Wildlife Photographer of the Year is developed and produced by the Natural History Museum, London. USAGE RESTRICTIONS: Maximum number of images within a publication or website is up to 20 (twenty) images across multiple editions and pages unless otherwise agreed in writing between the publication and the Natural History Museum. All front cover requests must be approved by the Natural History Museum and the photographer.
Undated handout photo issued by Natural History Museum of a dung beetle pushing a ball of dung, by Oscar Whitfield, from United Kingdom but living in Zimbabwe, the winner of Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year. Issue date: Tuesday October 13, 2026. PA Photo. Photo credit should read: Oscar Whitfield/PA Wire
NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.
Photographer: Oscar Whitfield
Provider: Oscar Whitfield/PA Wire
Source: PA
Caption: RETRANSMITTING AMENDING CAPTION CORRECT CAPTION BELOW
EMBARGOED TO 2330 TUESDAY OCTOBER 13 PRINT USE ONLY. NO SALES, NO ARCHIVE, NO CROPPING. CAN ONLY BE USED IN CONNECTION WITH THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM’S WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR COMPETITION 2026 MANDATORY CREDIT: Loren Elliott/Wildlife Photographer of the Year Copyright in this image is retained by the photographer. THE FOLLOWING MUST APPEAR CLEARLY AND LEGIBLY IN EDITORIAL COPY: Wildlife Photographer of the Year is developed and produced by the Natural History Museum, London. USAGE RESTRICTIONS: Maximum number of images within a publication or website is up to 20 (twenty) images across multiple editions and pages unless otherwise agreed in writing between the publication and the Natural History Museum. All front cover requests must be approved by the Natural History Museum and the photographer.
Undated handout photo issued by Natural History Museum of A coyote pads along a trail in Bernal Heights Park, overlooking the city and bay of San Francisco by Loren Elliott, USA, the Winner, Photojournalist Story Award in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year. Issue date: Tuesday October 13, 2026. PA Photo. Photo credit should read: Loren Elliott /PA Wire
NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.
Photographer: Loren Elliott
Provider: Loren Elliott /PA Wire
Source: PA
news
Families forced to spend thousands on travel for sick kids
Caption: EMBARGOED TO 0001 WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 14
Undated GOSH Charity handout photo of Woody Grimwade (centre) with his mother Laurie and father Dave. Woody was diagnosed with a rare auto-immune disease in 2021. Families with seriously ill children should be supported with their travel expenses, leading experts have warned as one family revealed they had spent in excess of ??12,000 taking their son to appointments. Provisions are already in place to help families of children with cancer get to and from vital appointments. But experts from the Great Ormond Street Hospital (Gosh) Charity said that this scheme should be extended so families of children diagnosed with a serious illness can also receive assistance. Issue date: Wednesday October 14, 2026. PA Photo. Photo credit should read: Laurie B/PA Wire
NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.
Photographer: Laurie B
Provider: Laurie B/PA Wire
Source: PA
Children’s health specialists have recommended extra funding to help families get to hospitals for treatment, after one family spent £12,000 travelling to Great Ormond Street Hospital.
Travel costs burden families
Experts from the hospital, which sees around 81,500 children and young people a year, are calling for funding to cover travel costs for all children with serious illnesses.
Caption: EMBARGOED TO 0001 WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 14
Undated GOSH Charity handout photo of Woody Grimwade, who was diagnosed with a rare auto-immune disease in 2021. Families with seriously ill children should be supported with their travel expenses, leading experts have warned as one family revealed they had spent in excess of ??12,000 taking their son to appointments. Provisions are already in place to help families of children with cancer get to and from vital appointments. But experts from the Great Ormond Street Hospital (Gosh) Charity said that this scheme should be extended so families of children diagnosed with a serious illness can also receive assistance. Issue date: Wednesday October 14, 2026. PA Photo. Photo credit should read: Laurie B/PA Wire
NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.
Photographer: Laurie B
Provider: Laurie B/PA Wire
Source: PA
Caption: EMBARGOED TO 0001 WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 14
Undated GOSH Charity handout photo of Woody Grimwade, who was diagnosed with a rare auto-immune disease in 2021. Families with seriously ill children should be supported with their travel expenses, leading experts have warned as one family revealed they had spent in excess of ??12,000 taking their son to appointments. Provisions are already in place to help families of children with cancer get to and from vital appointments. But experts from the Great Ormond Street Hospital (Gosh) Charity said that this scheme should be extended so families of children diagnosed with a serious illness can also receive assistance. Issue date: Wednesday October 14, 2026. PA Photo. Photo credit should read: GOSH Charity/PA Wire
NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.
Photographer: GOSH Charity
Provider: GOSH Charity/PA Wire
Source: PA
Laura Grimwade, whose 12-year-old son Woody has a rare autoimmune disease, estimates her family will have spent £15,000 travelling to and from Plymouth to hospitals in London by the time he is 18.
She said a fund would make “such a difference”.
Scheme should be extended, say doctors
Great Ormond Street Hospital in central London is the UK’s largest children’s hospital (Source: Getty Images)
The Government has already committed £10m of travel funding to families of children with cancer.
Doctors say this is a good start but other families should not miss out.
4 min read
silicosis
The shocking human cost of UK’s killer kitchens revealed
Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspectors found hundreds of breaches of health and safety law at more than 160 firms, with workers exposed to “billowing” silica dust, and issued an immediate ban to 50 firms.
What is silicosis?
The threat posed by the man-made stone comes from so-called “dry cutting” whereby particles are emitted in a fine dust as slabs are cut.
Engineered stone often contains as much as 95 per cent silica quartz – far higher than natural stone such as granite (about 30 per cent).
When engineered quartz dust is inhaled, it lodges in the lungs, triggering an aggressive immune response from the body.
Over time, scar tissue forms and spreads, slowly killing the lung. Many sufferers of silicosis remain asymptomatic until it is too late.
Hundreds of breaches
Caption: Luke Bunker, 29, a stonemason from Royston, Cambridgeshire, who was diagnosed with silicosis and emphysemia after working for 10 years at a firm cutting quartz worktops
(Photos: Supplied by Irwin Mitchell law firm)
Unannounced visits by the HSE to workshops producing kitchen counters made from in-demand quartz have revealed hundreds of breaches of regulations designed to protect workers from inhaling toxic dust responsible for silicosis, an incurable and often fatal lung condition.
Killer Kitchens
4 min read
Cases of deadly lung disease could reach 1,000
Almost 60 stonemasons in the UK have so far been diagnosed with silicosis, with many falling ill or dying in their 20s, 30s and 40s.
Doctors believe the true number of silicosis cases is much higher and could reach as many as 1,000 people in a workforce of 7,000.
Killer Kitchens
4 min read
Exclusive
2 min read
The verdict from the HSE
Safety bosses said the inspection regime had revealed a “very mixed picture” of safety standards in the kitchen worktop industry.
Harvey Wild, HSE’s head of operations, said: “Where we’re finding things that are wrong, there isn’t just one thing wrong – there’s multiple things wrong. We’re taking a very strong enforcement line and people are getting multiple notices.”
A stone countertop fabricator in in Sun Valley, California. The state could become the first in the US to ban engineered stone (Photo: Brian van der Brug/Getty)
Killer Kitchens
3 min read
Currently, the default workplace pension contribution rate is 8 per cent, which includes a minimum contribution of 3 per cent from employers. Think-tanks and sector leaders have long called for the total pension contribution rate to rise gradually to 12 per cent – with employers contributing 6 per cent – to help people build up their retirement savings.
But this is not considered adequate to meet a projected pensions crisis with an ageing population and those retiring in 2050 – aged in their mid-40s now – expected to have lower private pensions than those retiring now.
‘Finish the job’
It is understood the Pensions Commission has not settled on a final figure to recommend, or how much of it should be covered by employers, but increasing the auto-enrolment contribution rate is part of the commission’s mission to “finish the job” started by Adair Turner.
He led the first Pensions Commission and proposed a low-cost nationwide pensions savings scheme which automatically enrolled people in 2005, which the former Labour government enacted under the 2008 Pensions Act.
But the move could cause backlash from businesses, which would be forced to pay an additional £9.8bn if total contributions were increased to 12 per cent on all earnings, with 6 per cent of this coming from employers, according to analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).
Speaking during a keynote address at the Pensions UK conference in Liverpool, Baroness Drake signalled that the commission will recommend that employers should take on part of the burden.
“If employer contributions do not go up, how will we prevent millions from failing to save towards adequate retirement and avoid increasing reliance on means-tested benefits in old age by millions of people,” she said.
She said the commission is considering how to boost retirement savings for people on low incomes.
Ministers have the option of removing the current £6,240 lower earnings threshold for automatic enrolment, meaning contributions would be calculated from the first pound earned rather than only on income above that level. This would be one way of increasing savings for lower earners and part-time workers.
Former minister: ‘I’d be delighted if we get there by 2025’
Former pensions minister under the Conservative government, Guy Opperman, said there is “no doubt that the UK automatic enrolment will get to 12 per cent; the better question is when”, adding: “If we got to 12 per cent by 2035, I’d be delighted.”
Opperman, the Tory pensions minister from 2017-2022 who now works as a strategic adviser for the consultancy firm Aptia, warned that increasing the minimum auto-enrolment rate means employers and employees will be “paying more at a time when cost of living is tight”.
He said the Government is likely to take on the Pension Commission’s recommendation, but said “the question is time”. Any changes would have to come after the next general election, which is currently due by 2029 at the latest, as the Government has explicitly ruled out increases in contribution rates for the rest of this Parliament.
Last month, the House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee said the Government had no current plans to increase minimum contributions, although its Pensions Commission is examining the long-term adequacy and fairness of the system.
But there have long been calls for the minimum rate to increase to 12 per cent. Pensions UK said the Government must set a clear timetable to increase the automatic enrolment contributions to 12 per cent, shared equally between employers and employees.
The IFS has proposed a targeted 12 per cent default total contribution rate specifically for earnings above £35,000, rather than a blanket increase for all workers, to protect low-income workers from reduced take-home pay.
The respected think-tank has also suggested that the age range targeted by automatic enrolment should be expanded from 22 to 16 to “help even more in paid work save for later life”.
London Economics think tank called for a “hybrid approach” where mid-earners should increase their contributions to 12 per cent, but lower earners should be “protected”.
Speaking at a Pensions UK conference in Liverpool, Carl Emmerson – partner at London Economics think-tank and former deputy director of the IFS – suggested a “phased increase” in the default pension contribution rate to 12 per cent of qualifying earnings for middle earners, with the option to opt down to 8 per cent. The proposal applies to people earning between £25,000 and £65,000.
Baroness Drake warned that increasing automatic enrolment contributions “won’t be without difficulties, although it’s necessary”.
Trade-offs over more saving
“More saving is not costless,” she said. “There are trade-offs for all three key parties: the state will spend more on tax; employers will have to plan for changes to their overall remuneration budget, and some individuals will have lower take-home pay for a period.”
She said there are currently 15 million “under-savers” in the UK, which would grow to 19 million “without action” – accounting for half the working age population. She noted the UK has the lowest savings rate in the G7 and it has worsened since the pandemic.
“Everyone has to play a part in responding to this challenge because when we identify the solution, it has to hold over the long term,” she said. “Pensions, ageing populations are a 30-40 year project. It’s not one to be altered arbitrarily every so often.”
“In 20 years’ time, I don’t want members of another commission in 2050 to be standing in front of a Pensions UK conference reminding us of a lost opportunity. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to finish Turner’s job,” she added.
Zoe Alexander, chief policy officer at Pensions UK, said: “With the Second Pensions Commission finalising the package of proposals that will form its final report due next Spring, we are approaching crunch time for political decision-making on pensions adequacy.
“Increasing automatic enrolment contributions to 12 per cent, shared equally between employers and employees, is the right decision to deliver long-term household financial security, something this Government has said it cares deeply about.
“Our research shows the public understand that under-saving is a serious national challenge, and employers are much more open to higher contributions when changes are phased and clearly signalled.
“Now is the time to set a timetable. Delaying reform risks consigning future generations to low retirement incomes and benefit dependency.”
A Department for Work and Pensions spokesperson said: “The Government recognises that millions are not saving enough for their retirement. That is why last year we revived the Pensions Commission to review our pensions system as a whole for the next parliament.
“The Commission is examining how we can ensure secure retirements for tomorrow’s pensioners and it will publish a final report and recommendations in early 2027.”