New PLSA estimates “a wake-up call” to government and industry – Steve Webb, LCP

Commenting on new estimates by the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) of the annual income needed to fund a minimum, moderate, comfortable retirement, Steve Webb, partner at LCP and former pensions minister, said:

“These latest estimates of the budgets we will need in retirement are a wake-up call to government and the pensions industry alike. Despite a significant increase in the state pension last April, the state pension rate is actually further away from providing a decent minimum standard of living now than it was a year ago. Meanwhile, the cost of a moderate lifestyle in retirement has surged by nearly one-third. Yet, at the same time, the government is still dithering about whether and when to implement a set of modest increases to the amount being saved into pensions under the automatic enrolment rules. Without urgent action, we are likely to see more and more people facing an unenviable choice between an extended working life or a poor retirement.”