Several pensions reports published this week brought some frankly concerning issues firmly back into the spotlight.
Firstly, Scottish Widows’ 2013 Women in Pensions report found that just 40% of women are adequately prepared for retirement, while more than a third (39%) have made no pension provision at all. In addition, the report also highlighted that female employees’ average pension contributions are lagging well behind those of their male counterparts.
This brings us on neatly to the second significant report of the week: the Pension Policy Institute’s publication What level of pension contribution is needed to obtain an adequate retirement income?
This highlighted that median earners who only make the minimum contributions required under auto-enrolment have less than a fifty-fifty chance of achieving an adequate retirement income.
A further report from Partnership, meanwhile, found that 71% of respondents will have to supplement their income in retirement.
While none of these are new issues, these findings serve as a good reminder to employers and the wider pensions industry that while responsibility for their own retirement planning must ultimately lie with each individual, support, education and guidance are vital.
In the UK, we still have a lot of work ahead of us if such issues are to become a thing of the past.
Debbie Lovewell
Deputy Editor
Tweet: @DebbieLovewell
