Pension bodies launch saving campaign as inflation threatens spending power
Top pension bodies have launched a campaign to try and boost the UK’s engagement with pensions today, as fears grow that soaring inflation could take a chunk out of pensioners’ spending power.
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) and the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) announced a new campaign in a bid to drive people’s understanding of pensions, after figures showed only 20 per cent of people felt they had saved enough to last them beyond their working life.
The government has backed the campaign, with pensions minister Guy Opperman saying it would “help bring about a step change in how the record number of Brits now saving for retirement engage with their pension.”
Fifteen pension providers representing approximately 41.5m savers have also backed the scheme, with a collective investment of at least £1m for its organisation over the next three years
But it comes amid fears that soaring inflation could outpace the rate of pensions growth and leave a whole in savers’ spending power.
A top pensions consultant warned Morning Wire last month that FTSE 100 firms were considering unprecedented discretionary pensions hikes in order to keep pace with inflation.
The government will also boost state pension payments by 3.1 per cent from Monday April 11, but inflation hit 6.2 per cent last month and would leave a whole in the pocket of savers.
A petition calling on the government to boost the state pension to £19,760 per year, the equivalent to £380 each week, has passed the 10,000 signature threshold and is now awaiting a response from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).