Pension Commission (interim) Report out today

SnowMan

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pensions-2050-evidence-and-future-priorities-interim-report

The interim second Pension Commission report has come out today. This Commission is exploring the long-term questions of adequacy of pension provision and retirement outcomes in the UK. The Commission will publish and submit its final recommendations to the government in 2027.

The interim report is accessible via the above link.

It's a 190 page document but the executive summary starts on page 7.

flaneurs_lobster

Any chance of a Very Busy Senior Executive Summary of the executive summary?

I'm really far too busy…..

SnowMan

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82004254#Comment_82004254

Here's an AI summary:-

The newly published interim report from the Government-backed Pensions Commission warns that 15 million people across the UK are failing to save enough for retirement. The commission calls for a "renewed national settlement" to fix chronic undersaving, support vulnerable groups, and prevent millions from relying solely on state support in old age.

Key findings and focus areas from the report include:

• Widespread Undersaving: 45% of working-age adults (around 18 million people) are not saving into a pension at all. Of those who are, nearly half are contributing only the minimum statutory rate.
• The Self-Employed: Only 4% of wholly self-employed workers are saving for retirement.
• The Gender Gap: The UK has one of the worst gender pension gaps in the developed world, with women typically reaching retirement with half the pension wealth of men.
• Early Withdrawals: Around 3 in 10 private pension pots are accessed at the earliest possible opportunity, with half of these withdrawn in full and frequently spent on immediate large expenses (like cars or holidays) rather than sustaining an income.
• Next Steps: The commission will gather industry evidence to build a comprehensive roadmap for reform, with final policy recommendations scheduled for early 2027.

Here's some informed industry comment on the report on the actuarial post website

https://www.actuarialpost.co.uk/article/industry-comments-on-the-pensions-commission-report-26669.htm

SnowMan

And the gov.uk (press release) summary is here

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/britain-is-undersaving-for-retirement-warns-pensions-commission

eastcorkram

I wonder how much it cost to come up with that.

SnowMan

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82004338#Comment_82004338

The original 2002-2006 report cost about £2.5 million

daveyjp

The number of people in retirement is increasing.

The number with DB pensions is decreasing.

Making people work longer isn't suitable for all.

Workers aren't saving enough in DC, but not everyone will earn high salaries to contribute an adequate amount to a DC.

Government its down to you to square the circle.

monkey-fingers

Wow! Only 4% of self-employed people are paying into a private pension.

I'm one of the 4%. I put more into my pension than I take home too.

Bostonerimus1

There was an article about the report in today's Guardian and I imagine there will be something about it in many of the papers, BBC, ITV etc.

IMO the report shows that the recent ie last few decades of pension reforms have made things largely worse. Shifting to DC pensions and also shifting the responsibility for contributions and risk from employers to employees has had a pretty predictable negative impact on pension provision. This is particularly worrying in the UK as the SP covers a far smaller percentage of retirement income needs than similar plans in other OECD countries. eg my US equivalent of SP is 2.3x the full new UK state pension.

The low level of people's pension contributions won't be helped by the HMRC IHT net falling over DC pensions soon and when the inevitable stock market crash occurs those that have invested in their pensions will likely get burned and run for the hills.

phlebas192

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82004872#Comment_82004872

I'm not sure if "reforms" is the right word to use. Most of the large private DB pension schemes that existed in the 1980s would be comfortably in surplus if they had continued to today. They got converted to DC ones because the firms had taken advantage of payment holidays when investment returns were good and refused to contribute more when they were not. A clear counterfactual is the Network Rail section of the Railway Pension Scheme which has been showing a comfortable surplus for years (albeit it's not as generous to new members today as it was in the 80s). But ultimately, the shift to DC was a decision made by employers, not a government "reform".

Can't see the IHT changes affecting anyone who isn't contributing enough to their pension. Pretty much by defintion, only those with considerably more than adequate assets saved for their retirement will be impacted by it.

There may or may not be a stock market crash. But income earned by equity investments won't reduce just because of a crash. That would require a recession / depression.

artyboy

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82004864#Comment_82004864

But as has been said many times, people that post on this board do not tend to be a representative sample of the masses.

**Smug mode off**