Yahoo Finance Millions of Brits are heading into retirement with no pension in place
One in seven people coming up to retirement have no pension provision whatsoever in place.
Some 1.2 million people have neither a private nor workplace pension to supplement their retirement once they leave their working life behind.
The figures are even more startling for women, where one in five of those aged 55 to 65 have no savings to see them into retirement.
The research by retirement experts Aegon lays bare the perilous financial position millions of Britons are in.
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Kate Smith, head of pensions at Aegon, said the introduction of auto-enrolment in 2012 had undoubtedly been a success, with some 7.5 million employees enrolled into a workplace pension scheme.
“However, as our figures show,” she said, “there is a portion of the population who either feel unable to or are unwilling to save for retirement.
“This may include those who are self-employed or in the ‘gig’ economy and those employees who do not meet the earnings or age criteria for auto-enrolment.
“Others may consciously opt out of a workplace pension perhaps for affordability reasons or simply not recognise the benefits of pensions over other forms of saving.”
Aegon’s research showed that in the early stages of people’s working life, 41% of those aged 18-24 do not have a pension. This figure drops considerably to 16% among those aged 25-34 and remains stubbornly persistent at an average of 16% right up to age 65.
Those without pension savings are likely to be reliant solely on the state pension, as they may have no other savings.
For those entitled to the full amount from the new single tier state pension, this is equivalent to an income of £8,297 per year, and, in the main, it will no longer be possible for spouses to inherit their partner’s pension.
“There’s also likely to be a portion of people who prioritise a house purchase above other long term saving,” added Smith.
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“The size of deposits required now can mean it takes longer to get on the property ladder, which will have a knock-on effect to freeing up cash to save in a pension.
“Our findings show how critical it is that the review of automatic enrolment brings more people into its scope and that we find equivalent nudges to help the self-employed and gig economy workers save for pensions as the default.”
The pension issue has become a political hot potato in the early stages of the General Election campaign as Theresa May’s Conservative government has refused to guarantee the ‘triple lock’ on future increases.