Pensions & savings Building a living pension Closing the pension savings gap for low to-middle income families 23 January 2021 David Finch Cara Pacitti The Living Wage has been successful in providing a focus on the living standards of low-paid workers and increasing pay for many lower-paid employees. However, there has been much less of a focus on the future living standards of the same group. A ‘Living Pension’ could help us understand the savings required today to provide an adequate income in retirement. Although the current focus of policy makers is on how to ameliorate the impact of pandemic restrictions, it is important to think about the longer-term prospect for living standards once the economy has recovered and beyond. This report sets out a framework through which a ‘Living Pension’ could be calculated, identifying the contributions required by workers and their employers today to save for an adequate income in retirement. It is a first step in understanding the feasibility of a ‘Living Pension’ standard. This will then be further refined, and a governance and accreditation process explored, by the Living Wage Foundation.
