Over a third of British adults have expressed fears that their standard of living will decline once they retire, new alaysis has found. Investment company Standard Life found that the average employee would like to leave work at 62, but anticipates working until 67. This is known as the retirement expectation gap, which has widened from four years in 2024 to five years in 2025.
Standard Life also discovered that less than 50% of workers believe they could keep their current job or find similar one until they’re 70. The North East had the UK’s biggest retirement expectation gap of 5.9 years, followed by Yorkshire and Humber with 5.3 years. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Londoners reported the smallest gap of just 3.5 years.
There is also a concerning lack of hope in the report’s findings, with only 29% believing that the Triple Lock will still be in place by the time they retire.
Just over 50% expected the State Pension to be universally available by the time they’re old enough to claim it.
Catherine Foot, Director of the Standard Life Centre for the Future of Retirement, said: “Standard Life’s Retirement Voice report is a vital barometer of public attitudes, giving us a sharp picture of how people are feeling about retirement, and where action is most urgently needed.”
“Two decades ago, the independent Pensions Commission helped transform retirement saving by creating auto-enrolment.
“This has brought millions of people into regular workplace pension saving, but it’s clear that average rates of saving are too low to give most people a decent income in retirement.
“With the Commission now revived, there is an opportunity to deliver even bolder action – building on the groundwork of auto-enrolment to tackle pension adequacy, in the context of longer working lives and the ongoing State Pension age review, to help people get one step closer to achieving their retirement aspirations.”
