Nine million people, almost a fifth of the UK adult population are not saving at all for retirement, Pension Geeks has found.

Ahead of its Pension Awareness Campaign UK tour next week, new research from Pension Geeks has highlighted that a total of 83 per cent, four out of five, Brits are unhappy with the amount they are saving into their pension each month, and almost 30 per cent of those over-55 are unsure if they’ll be able to retire on their current savings.

A further one in four people, 25 per cent, stated that they regret not saving for their pension earlier in life and fewer that on in 10, nine per cent are confident that they have a thorough understanding of pensions. The survey also noted that 86 per cent of respondents believe there is not enough information about pensions available to them and 25 per cent think the information available is too complicated to grasp.

These findings support the latest Scottish Widows Retirement Report that revealed the number of people saving adequately for retirement stalled at 56 per cent for the third year in a row.

In order to plug the pensions gap and encourage greater numbers of people to save for retirement, Pension Geeks and Scottish Widows are embarking on a five-day tour, next week, of some of the UK’s main cities in the lead up to Pension Awareness Day on 15 September. The blue Pension Awareness Campaign bus will stop in central locations in Leeds, Birmingham and Cardiff, before heading to London’s Southbank at the end of the week. Pensions experts from Scottish Widows and Pension Wise will be on the bus as well as Pension Geeks representatives.

Pension Geeks co-founder Jonathan Bland said: “Our research has uncovered some thought-provoking findings on the state of pensions and pension awareness in the UK. With annual figures from Scottish Widows revealing a worrying stagnation in retirement savings, the reality is that many face not having enough in their pension pots to secure a decent income for the future.

“While auto-enrolment has been a success…as a nation we just aren’t engaged enough when it comes to how much we’re saving and some of that responsibility is actually on us as an industry to do more to help.”

Bland added: “Pension Geeks’ aim is to change the way people think about pensions and to inspire the financial industry to do something different when it comes to helping people. Our Pension Awareness Campaign is a fun and informal way to help educate not only those nearing retirement but younger generations too. By making the information accessible, by offering access to experts and through apps and games, we want to encourage people to get into the savings habit early.”

Scottish Widows pensions expert Robert Cochran said: “Automatic enrolment has undoubtedly been a success…However, as the level of saving has stalled over the past few years it is obvious even more needs to be done across the industry to better educate people on the importance of putting away as much as they can towards retirement.

“In particular, we must better engage with the younger generation through technology and information that can be made readily available and easy to digest. We’re therefore delighted to be supporting this campaign with Pension Geeks, helping as many people across the country with questions or concerns they have about their retirement savings.”

The campaign is also supported by Nest and JLT.

As part of the tour, the pension awareness bus will be at the following locations from 10am-6pm.
• Mon 11th Sept - Edinburgh, Castle Street
• Tues 12th Sept - Leeds, Briggate
• Wed 13th Sept - Birmingham Bull Ring, Rotunda Square
• Thurs 14th Sept - Cardiff, Churchill Way
• Fri 15th Sept - London Southbank, Queens Walk

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