The legal changes required for the extension of pensions auto-enrolment have been pushed back until September.

The Pensions (Extension of Automatic Enrolment) (no.2) Bill had been expected to receive Royal Assent before the summer Parliamentary recess at the end of this month.

However, the previous stage for the Bill, the Committee stage in the House of Lords, has now been pushed to 12 September, meaning the earliest it will receive Royal Assent and become law will be the autumn.

Aegon warned that if the Government pushes back the Bill much further it could see even more delay.

Kate Smith, head of pensions at Aegon, said: “Having rapidly passed through Parliament in a matter of months, with cross-party consensus intact, we had high hopes that the Pensions (Extension of Automatic Enrolment) (no. 2) Bill would receive Royal Assent this month before parliamentary recess on 20 July. However, the government has clearly run out of time, with the Committee stage in the House of Lords pushed back to 12 September, a week after Parliament restarts.

“It’s bitterly disappointing that this really important piece of legislation will now be delayed until September, which could push this back considerably, as there’s still a few stages to get through. If the Bill fails to get Royal Assent before the King’s Speech, which is due to take place sometime in the autumn, there’s a real risk that the process will have to start all over again, or even worse, be kicked into the long grass.”

The Government confirmed earlier this month that it intends to move forward with major reforms to automatic enrolment pensions. 

The reforms are expected to include removing the lower earnings limit for minimum contributions. The limit is currently set at £6,420.

The removal of the limit would mean the first pound of earnings will qualify for matched employer contribution and tax relief.

The Government is also expected to lower the minimum age at which workers qualify for auto-enrolment from 22 to 18.

These measures combined would increase total pension contributions by around £2bn a year, or £45bn over 30 years, according to a Parliamentary impact assessment.