Chris Marchant’s article is here.

 

“Two thirds of people admit they will rely on the state pension ‘to some extent’ in retirement, according to research by Hargreaves Lansdown.

Almost one-in ten say they will be totally dependent on the benefit, while almost one in five say they will be heavily reliant on it, a 14 per cent of people stated that they are unsure”.

If we had a halfway sensible system, we’d have a pension dashboard that showed that we’ve been saving for a pension. Heh! isn’t that what we’re going to get?

On a day when the DWP announces they want to re-brand CDC as “collective pensions”, perhaps we should think about what’s happened since we gave up on Final Salary and Career Average Pensions some two decades ago.

These workplace pensions may have caught on as savings plans but for 2/3 of us they have not become part of our retirement income thinking – it would seem.

I guess that this is also an admission that the amount saved into pots is not enough to make a difference to pension. This might explain why women get the pension gender gap with much more sense than they are given by men,

Women (68 per cent) said that they are more reliant on state pension than men (64 per cent).

The HL data was based on a survey of 1,500 people conducted by Opinium in June 2026.

HL points out

A 22-year-old earning £25,000 per year, contributing at auto-enrolment minimums throughout their career, could have a pension worth £477,500 by the age of 68.

HL concludes that by increasing contributions to 10% from 8% of band earnings the lifetime saver would make things better. That was the sale 40 years ago and it’s still being used! It’s still not believed by people who are after a pension not a pot.

I remember we used this argument when we sold 226 plans and the first wave of personal pensions

Helen Morrissey, head of retirement analysis at Hargreaves Lansdown, says: “A full new state pension is currently £241.30 per week. While this will be sufficient for many people to cover their essentials, for the vast majority it will be nowhere near enough to live the lifestyle they enjoyed while they were working.

“The reality is that if you want a retirement where you can afford more than just the essentials, or you want the flexibility to retire early, then you will need to make the most of your pension.”

It didn’t work then , it won’t now. People don’t want wealth, the want a wage in retirement. Personal Pension sales people don’t get that!

if they decided to increase their contribution to 10 per cent per year at the age of 32, they would have closer to £550,000 in their pension at the age of 68.

Of course these numbers have been flying around since the days of Lautro statements in the 1980s and the generation who started then are finding they have not got anywhere like