Skip to main content
The Actuary: The magazine of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries - return to the homepage Logo of The Actuary website
  • Search
  • Visit The Actuary Magazine on Facebook
  • Visit The Actuary Magazine on LinkedIn
  • Visit @TheActuaryMag on Twitter
Visit the website of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries Logo of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries

Main navigation

  • News
  • Features
    • General Features
    • Interviews
    • Students
    • Opinion
  • Topics
  • Knowledge
    • Business Skills
    • Careers
    • Events
    • Predictions by The Actuary
    • Whitepapers
  • Jobs
  • IFoA
    • CEO Comment
    • IFoA News
    • People & Social News
    • President Comment
  • Archive
Quick links:
  • Home
  • The Actuary Issues
  • August 2014
08

Self-employed 'not saving for retirement'

Open-access content Thursday 14th August 2014

The numbers of self-employed people in Britain is growing, but they are not saving for their retirement compared to a decade ago, Barnett Waddingham has warned.

Yesterday, the Office for National Statistics published its latest figures on the UK labour market. It showed that the unemployment rate fell to 6.4% in the three months to the end of June and 30.6 million people are now in work.

Examining the figures Barnett Waddingham noted that there were now over 4.5 million self-employed workers in the UK, particularly people working from home.

'But that growth has almost certainly been matched by a worrying trend away from saving for retirement,' said Malcolm McLean, senior consultant at the firm.

'A decade ago two in three self-employed people were saving in a pension; today the proportion is probably under half, based on earlier figures published by ONS.'

McLean said the problem was worse among self-employed women, 'the majority of whom currently appear to have no pension savings at all'.

He said when it came to pension provision for the self-employed, this section of society 'is indeed something of a lost tribe'.

'Currently excluded from the state second pension and auto-enrolment, the self-employed are very much on their own in preparing themselves financially for later life,' said McLean.

'Many self-employed people who are earning a lot of money assume they will be well off in retirement, but unless they have a business that they can sell when they stop working, they face poverty in retirement if they do not start planning now.

'We should continue to stress the importance and provide every encouragement to the self-employed to join a pension scheme.'

McLean said the self-employed should ask to be enrolled in arrangements such as the National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) and benefit from tax breaks that the government will provide. 

This article appeared in our August 2014 issue of The Actuary.
Click here to view this issue
Filed in:
08
Topics:
Pensions

You might also like...

Share
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Linked in
  • Mail
  • Print

Latest Jobs

Actuarial Associate Consultant (UK-wide)

England, Manchester, Greater Manchester / England, West Midlands, Birmingham / England, London
£35000 - £53500 per annum + DOE + bonus + benefits
Reference
120865

Origination/ Pricing Analyst (Bulk purchase annuities)

London, England / London, City of London, England
£55000 - £75000 per annum + DOE + bonus + benefits
Reference
120864

Covenant Consultant

Leeds
£60-80k plus bonus and benefits
Reference
120863
See all jobs »
 
 

Today's top reads

 
 

Sign up to our newsletter

News, jobs and updates

Sign up

Subscribe to The Actuary

Receive the print edition straight to your door

Subscribe
Spread-iPad-slantB-june.png

Topics

  • Data Science
  • Investment
  • Risk & ERM
  • Pensions
  • Environment
  • Soft skills
  • General Insurance
  • Regulation Standards
  • Health care
  • Technology
  • Reinsurance
  • Global
  • Life insurance
​
FOLLOW US
The Actuary on LinkedIn
@TheActuaryMag on Twitter
Facebook: The Actuary Magazine
CONTACT US
The Actuary
Tel: (+44) 020 7880 6200
​

IFoA

About IFoA
Become an actuary
IFoA Events
About membership

Information

Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
Cookie Policy
Think Green

Get in touch

Contact us
Advertise with us
Subscribe to The Actuary Magazine
Contribute

The Actuary Jobs

Actuarial job search
Pensions jobs
General insurance jobs
Solvency II jobs

© 2021 The Actuary. The Actuary is published on behalf of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries by Redactive Publishing Limited, Level 5, 78 Chamber Street, London, E1 8BL. Tel: 020 7880 6200