The At Retirement Reckoning: Barnett Waddingham’s investigation into the UK’s retirement landscape
By Barnett Waddingham
The British pensions industry is, once again, at a critical juncture. It seems every provider, regulator, and adviser is watching with bated breath as the time bomb of UK retirement saving ticks closer to detonation. And with every new day, the likely ripple effects of the impending disaster get bigger.
The past 14 years of Conservative rule saw the pension landscape shift notably. The introduction of auto-enrolment in 2012 successfully widened the UK’s saving base and helped tackle inertia around long-term saving – but with most workers relying mostly or solely on defined contribution (DC) schemes, people are approaching retirement with far less in their pots than they need. Pension freedoms, in April 2015, then took away all guardrails which protected members from making poor decisions at the point of retirement. Increases to the state pension age have impacted people’s expectations of when they’ll retire, but reliance on 2011’s triple lock remains a drain on Government coffers. Meanwhile, more people are private renters, the cost of living crisis has decimated savings, and people’s engagement with their longer-term finances remains woefully inadequate.
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