75% of Britons say state pension not enough

A survey carried out by insurer Friends Provident has established that 75% of Britons believe the state pension is not enough to provide a comfortable retirement.

The survey was conducted to mark the 100th anniversary of the state pension and questioned 3,056 people.

However, while three quarters of respondents said it did not provide an adequate income, over half said this was either solely or partly their only income.

The average person believes a monthly amount of £832 would be adequate - double the amount of £439 a single pensioner currently receives from the state pension.

Just over 30% of respondents think they will struggle during retirement but are reluctant to pay money into a pension now.

The rise in day-to-day living costs and the expected rise in unemployment as a result of the recession means that Britons will find it increasingly difficult to save towards their retirement.

In related news, a recent survey conducted by Zurich found that 31% of retirees are returning to work because of financial reasons and not because they enjoyed working.

A growing amount of people are staying on at work or returning to work to ease financial pressures, said Zurich.

In related news, the Government is proposing to raise the state retirement age over the next few decades.

The state pension age for women is to rise steadily from 60 to 65 between 2010 and 2020. Thereafter, the pension age will increase further for both men and women from 65 to 68, between 2024 and 2046, under current Government policy.

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