The government should establish a new lifetime savings commission to help with the complex pension issues facing millions across the UK, Scottish Widows has said.
Scottish Widows’ head of policy, Pete Glancy, said that pension savings levels were currently too low to provide even a modest retirement living standard, emphasising the need for better retirement planning.
He also acknowledged that not everyone saves for retirement solely through their pension, emphasising the need to think about retirement and savings policy more holistically.
"“For example, the greatest asset most people have is their home, and downsizing is a common feature of retirement strategies," he stated, noting that the number of people who owned their home has now decreased, resulting in a rise in the number of people projected to spend their retirement income on rent.
As a result, Glancy argued that having a home is no longer an asset to assist with retirement strategies, arguing that housing is therefore a "critical ingredient" in any national roadmap towards good retirement outcomes.
However, he acknowledged that these issues span the responsibilities of several different government departments, and multiple sectors in financial services.
Given this, he stressed the need to build a consensus on a way forward across political parties, employer bodies, consumer groups, and other important stakeholders, suggesting that a lifetime savings commission could be one route to achieving this.
“The pensions commission drove many positive changes including auto-enrolment, one of the most successful changes in pension policy in recent times," he stated.
“Looking at the challenges ahead, the time looks right to establish a broadly based and inclusive new lifetime savings commission (a position that we have held for many years), mandated to consider how to equip our nations to meet full range of these diffuse and interdependent savings needs – as well as to improve our wider financial resilience.”
