Employees and self-employed people with disabilities and long-term health conditions are "largely" less confident about having a comfortable retirement, a study from Barnett Waddingham has revealed.

The firm's At Retirement Reckoning report revealed that, in terms of confidence about having a comfortable retirement, 33 per cent of those who were neurodiverse said they were not confident, while 41 per cent of people with a long-term health condition said the same.

In addition to this, 50 per cent of people with a long-term mental health condition said they were not confident about having a comfortable retirement and 43 per cent with a physical disability and 46 per cent who had other disability said the same.

This is compared to 33 per cent of people with no long-term health conditions or disabilities who said they were not confident that they would have a comfortable retirement.

Commenting on the research, Barnett Waddingham said: “Disabled people have a much higher chance of having gaps in their employment history.

"This may be down to long-term sickness, discrimination, or other factors - but the hard fact of the matter is that there is a 28 per cent disability employment gap.”

The firm said that this “obviously has a massive effect” on pension planning.

“Proportionally - when in work - they do not secure high incomes, and are often in part-time, flexible, or self-employed jobs which make saving for retirement more difficult,” it stated.

The report also showed that 19 per cent of those with long-term health conditions or disabilities have fully considered needing to go into care within their retirement planning, while 40 per cent have thought about it but not considered it in their planning.

Just under a fifth (19 per cent) have considered needing to employ support at home (e.g., a carer) in their planning, which is similar to the UK average.

Meanwhile, 23 per cent of respondents said they have fully considered the prospect of getting a serious illness within their retirement planning.

Over half (54 per cent) of those with long-term health conditions or disabilities said that they can currently afford their desired level of spending on their health and care needs - with only 23 per cent saying that they can always do so.

The consultancy said that workers in the UK are failing to plan for needing care and support in retirement, and it’s “extremely concerning” that this trend is consistent in the disabled community.

“People with long-term health conditions and disabilities are more likely to need additional health support in retirement, and that support can be expensive,” it continued.

“Employers and providers must make it a priority to proactively support their disabled employees to access financial planning and advice, as well as their partners, families, and wider support networks.”

The firm suggested that there should be an “ongoing dialogue” with disabled staff about ways to improve accessibility and engagement, whilst remembering that many employees will not disclose their disabilities; "removing barriers benefits us all".

It also urged policymakers and providers to look to fix the information gap around ill-health or incapacity benefits, which in more cases can provide access to early retirement pensions and enhanced provision.

“An information campaign on what that looks like and how it works would help to point individuals in the right direction,” the firm suggested.

The report also showed that those with long-term health conditions are more likely to have made changes to how their workplace pensions are invested compared to the UK average.

Indeed, more than two in five (43 per cent) said they made changes compared to 34 per cent of UK adults.

The report also found that those with long-term health conditions and disabilities are also slightly more conscious about where their workplace pension is invested.

The report showed that those with a long-term health condition are slightly more likely to want greater control over how and where their workplace pension is invested (19 per cent compared to the UK average of 16 per cent), and the gap widens notably among neurodiverse adults (29 per cent).

The consultancy said that this could be driven by an over indexing of neurodiversity in the young.

Almost three in 10 (27 per cent) of this group want to maximise their financial return but would like their investments to consider social and environmental good to bring about positive change in society. This is compared to the UK average of 24 per cent.

Barnett Waddingham said that the split is similar when it comes to maximising financial return.

The previous areas that Barnett Waddingham explored in its At Retirement Reckoning report include renters vs homeowners, ethnicity, gender, LGBTQ+ and carers.

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