UK pension savings hit ‘record high’ - Scottish Widows

Scottish Widow’s annual report on the retirement market has shown pension saving at the highest level it has ever seen.

The Scottish Widows Retirement Report published today reveals the record high based on a study of 5,000 UK adults.

The Edinburgh-based insurer found that 56 per cent of those surveyed are now saving enough for their retirement and, for the first time in the report’s history, the average proportion of earnings being saved each month towards retirement by respondents reached the 12 per cent mark.

Widows found that outside of pension savings, respondents were saving an average of £142 per month towards their retirement, an 8 per cent rise on the previous year.

Almost one in five (19 per cent) of those surveyed expected to save more over the next 12 months and 40% felt positive about their long-term financial situation, a 37 per cent increase on the previous year’s findings.

However, despite pension reforms which aimed to put retirement saving higher up on the public’s agenda, the provider said that there had been no improvement in the number of non-savers since last year.

One in five people were not saving at all for retirement, the same figure recorded by the company in 2009.

A similar proportion had no savings or investments whatsoever, increasing from 17 per cent last year to 19 per cent in 2015.

Ian Naismith, retirement expert at Scottish Widows, said that despite the positive signs, the company’s research showed that public confusion still remained surrounding money and retirement income.

“Since we began our research over a decade ago, a record proportion of people are now saving adequately for the future, showing that the unprecedented changes in the pensions industry have gone some way to engage the nation with retirement saving,” he said.

“Despite the positive signs , our research shows that confusion remains around how actions today translate into money tomorrow, with many people retaining unrealistic expectations about what their income in retirement might be.

“’Both the industry and the government need to continue working together to help people understand the living standard their savings might produce in real and tangible terms.”