Adoption of the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) Retirement Living Standards (RLS) has more than doubled since its launch this time last year, with 53 adopters now utilising the standards.

Adopters of the standards now include 30 pension schemes, a further 17 pension business adopters, and six other bodies.

Speaking at the PLSA Annual Conference 2020, PLSA head of DC, master trusts and lifetime savings, Lizzy Holliday, emphasised that the industry had responded "really really well" to the launch of the standards.

She stated: "At the moment, the standards have been adopted by schemes who between them represent 14.4 million savers, including over 10 million active savers.

"This is a really significant figure and it’s really great news. We had set an adoption target for ourselves that we want to reach 90 per cent of active savers via scheme adopters by 2025, so we’re kind of on track for that."

Holliday emphasised that the figures have over doubled since the launch, when 22 adopters were signed up, noting that these parties had been developers or "keen supporters".

She added: "It’s been really encouraging to see that people are still coming to us very proactively, asking us for help with adoption and wanting to know more information, so that’s really great."

Adding to this, Holliday stated that in achieving adoption, the PLSA had focused on engaging with those who work directly with savers, as these are the people who can provide the RLS directly to savers.

PLSA Director of Policy and Research, Nigel Peaple, also highlighted that the RLS could be integrated into future pension services, such as pension dashboards.

He stated: "The Money and Pensions Service (Maps) is keen to incorporate the RLS within their online tools, which will be very important, and we know also that as the pension dashboards get up and running, they will include, or we’re hoping some of them, will include a reference to Maps and therefore a reference to the RLS."

The association emphasised that it would also work with adopters going forward in order to better explore the impact of savings habits, and to look at what further developments to the standards could be introduced.

In a poll of attendees at the conference of those who have deployed the standards over two-thirds (67 per cent) stated that they had used the RLS as part of online information, whilst a third had included this within annual benefits statements.

Almost a fifth (19 per cent) had embedded the standards into tools they provide for savers, such as retirement income calculators.

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