TOUGH economic ­conditions have triggered a mood of financial "stoicism" and boosted the chance of success for the Government's landmark scheme to put millions into workplace pensions, a report has found.

A shift in the way finances are handled has taken place, which has helped make workers more receptive to reforms that will automatically move them into pension schemes over the next five years, according to pension firm Nest and researchers the Futures Company.

The report was published as the first anniversary of auto-enrolment approaches.

Over 1.6 million people have been placed in workplace pensions since the roll-out of the scheme started last October.

Three-fifths (61%) of people surveyed who are yet to be placed in a workplace pension plan to stay in it, showing a sharp increase from less than half (47%), when similar research was carried out in 2011.

Just under one fifth (18%) disagree with auto- enrolment, marking a downward shift from 27% in 2011.

So far, the rate of people staying in schemes in has been higher than many pundits had expected, with around nine in 10 people remaining in their schemes.

Of the workers questioned who have now been placed in a workplace pension, 51% of those who had stayed with it said they felt it was time to start saving for retirement.

In trying to explain the "surprisingly low" opt-out rates, the report pointed to "growing evidence that the recession has changed consumer attitudes towards money", adding: "A more stoic mindset appears to have taken root."

Pensions Minister Steve Webb said the last year has "heralded the biggest change to pensions in a century".

He said: "Automatic enrolment will mean that pensions are no longer the preserve of the few and will see six to nine million people saving more or for the first time by 2018."