Aon Consulting's latest assessment of pensions shows that although the UK's defined contribution (DC) pension assets have steadily increased during the past three months, a further nine months of these conditions are necessary to return them to 2007 levels.

For many people late in their careers, however, projected annual retirement income levels are still significantly lower than what they would have been two years ago.

According to the Aon DC Pension Tracker, which measures the total value of the UK workers' DC pension accounts, their assets have gone up by three per cent during May to a combined total of £430bn, due to steady gains in global equity markets. These gains offer a hope for British pensioners who have seen their retirement income diminished by the financial crisis, although the losses caused by the credit crunch are far from being recouped with a 28 per cent increase needed to recover DC assets to levels experienced in 2007.

Richard Strachan, senior consultant at Aon Consulting, said: "We have now seen three consecutive months of growth in pensioners' savings and although this is a promising trend we urge pension savers not to rely purely on the equity market to recoup all their losses. There is still a long road ahead simply to get back to 2007 levels." He continued to say that reliance upon stock market rallies is too much of a risk for those within ten years of retirement; Strachan urges these people to not rely on the market's improvement by the time they retire but to take action to ensure an acceptable standard of living.

"Reviewing the level of contributions paid in and the investment choices are as vital as ever - sensible decisions now could ease future heartache as there really is no guarantee that equity markets will continue to rise."

- Pensions Age June 2009

Share Story: