Polls show that large numbers of pension savers are pessimistic about their retirement prospects, while most retirees will not be lured back to work by the Budget reforms.
The Living Wage Foundation and Savanta’s poll of more than 3,000 people who saved into a pension in the past year found that 56% feel they will never be able to retire, while 64% said they will need to work for several years beyond retirement age.
Meanwhile, a poll carried out on the interactive investor website, after chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s abolition of the lifetime allowance in the Budget, shows that only 9% of over-50s who have retired would return to work.
More than half said the reform would not encourage them to work as they enjoy being retired, while another fifth said the changes would make no difference to them because their pension pot isn’t large enough.
The polls came as the Living Wage Foundation launched a ‘living pension employer’ standard, a voluntary savings target for employers who want to help workers build up a pension pot that will provide enough income to meet basic everyday needs in retirement. Aviva, Citizens UK, the Good Things Foundation, Herbert Smith Freehills, the Phoenix Group and Wealthify are the first six employers to sign up to the standard.
