London: The number of Britons saving enough for their retirement has fallen to its lowest level since 2006 after the recession crimped retirement provisions, according to Scottish Widows.
The proportion of people putting enough money aside to finance their old age has fallen to 48 per cent from 54 per cent last year, Edinburgh-based Scottish Widows, the pensions and insurance unit of Lloyds Banking Group Plc, said today. One in five people who should be contributing to a pension are not preparing for retirement at all.
"The last two years have been tough on the economy, and we are finally seeing the effects trickling through to pensions savings," Ian Naismith, head of pensions market development at Scottish Widows, said in the statement. "Now we are seeing the full impact of the downturn on people's retirement pots."
UK companies are saving money by putting more responsibility on employees to ensure they have adequate income once they stop working by closing plans that pay benefits based on length of service and leaving salary.
About one in five people saved less for old age in the past 12 months than previously as a result of the recession, with almost the same proportion saying retirement is now less of a priority.
Men are saving more than women and government and municipal employees are more likely to be making sufficient provisions for their retirement than people working for companies, Scottish Widows said.
"The last two years have been hard on everyone who is trying to save for their future," Naismith said. "The whole nation is feeling worse off than a year ago and this is really starting to take its toll on pensions savings."
