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Scottish widows reveal Britain’s pension habits: saving nudges higher in second year of auto-enrolment

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The number of people relying on a defined benefit pension scheme has fallen to less than one in four according research released today.

Scottish Widows said that just 24 per cent of people will rely on a final salary scheme as their main source of retirement income, down from 33 per cent last year.

Meanwhile the number of people adequately saving for retirement has flat-lined having previously spiked in the wake of the government’s auto-enrolment initiative.


(Source: Scottish Widows)

Six million people have signed up for auto-enrolment and this led to a jump from 43 per cent to 53 per cent between 2014 and 2015. But this only nudged up a further three per cent in 2016.

“With three solid years of improvement behind us, it is disappointing to see that savings levels are starting to plateau.

“Particularly worrying is the fact that savings levels among those in their 40s drop off at a time in life when retirement may be within 20 years, said Robert Cochran of Scottish Widows.

In addition, the Brexit vote dented respondents outlook on retirement.

Whereas nearly a third of people were optimistic about their retirement prior to the EU referendum, this fell to 21 per cent after the result of 23 June.