Up to 35 million savers now have access to the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association’s retirement living standards through their pension scheme’s communications.
The PLSA has revealed that 124 organisations are using this information, including over 100 pensions schemes, which includes some of the largest and biggest brands in the industry.
A further 25 schemes have signalled their intention to communicate the Retirement Living Standards in the future.
This latest figure, which is more than double the 14 million savers who were were accessing this information in October 2020, indicates the PLSA is well on its way to reaching its stated adoption target of reaching 90 per cent of active savers by 2025.
Launched in October 2019, and revised in 2021 to reflect price increases and changing societal trends, the Retirement Living Standards are designed to help savers picture the lifestyle they want in retirement and understand the costs.
Based on independent research with the UK public by Loughborough University, the standards cover a range of goods and services that are relevant for the majority of people across three different levels – minimum, moderate and comfortable.
A single person will need to spend about £11,000 a year to achieve the minimum living standard, £21,000 a year for moderate, and £34,000 a year for comfortable.
For couples these figures are: £17,000, £31,000 and £50,000, respectively. The figures will be updated again in October to reflect the changes in the prices of goods and services bought by pensioners.
Like the 5-a-day healthy eating initiative, the PLSA hopes for the standards to become a rule of thumb for retirement planning and be part of a national conversation about the importance of pension saving.
Evidence shows pension schemes are communicating these standards to savers in a variety of ways. In a recent survey of PLSA members who have adopted the standards, half said they feature them on their website (54 per cent), with a third providing a link to the PLSA website (32 per cent). A quarter say they have mentioned the standards in their newsletters or in seminars and face-to-face events (24 per cent) respectively). They are also being communicated via online tools and calculators (16 per cent)) and in annual benefit statements (11 per cent)).
Among those who currently communicate the Retirement Living Standards to their scheme members, almost all say they are useful in helping members understand what to save for in retirement (96 per cent)), with two-thirds (66 per cent)) believing they are extremely or very useful.
PLSA director of policy & research Nigel Peaple says: “It has been enormously encouraging to see so many pension and savings organisations proactively using these retirement living standards to help bring pension saving to life.
“Reaching up to 35 million savers, these standards are now firmly established as part of a common language to help people engage with pension saving and understand their spending needs in retirement.”
