Our publications - 2023

Retirement Living Standards: 2022 update The latest UK Retirement Living Standards have been published by the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association. These standards were first developed in 2019 by the Centre for Research in Social Policy at Loughborough University. This latest inflation-based update of the RLS takes into account changes in prices over the last year. The annual increase in what is needed to reach each living standard is by far the largest since the RLS were first established. The standards describe the cost of three different baskets of goods and services, established through research with members of the public, setting out what the public agree to be realistic and relevant expectations for retirement. These baskets include household bills, food and drink, transport, holidays and leisure, clothing and social and cultural participation. The Retirement Living Standards set out three different publicly determined levels or lifestyles – minimum, moderate and comfortable. These are designed to help people think in concrete ways about the lifestyle they want when they retire, and to understand the cost of this. Padley, M. (2023) Retirement Living Standards: 2022 update. London: The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association.

Policy interventions to alleviate poverty at the end of life This report builds upon previous research by CRSP estimating that 90,000 people in the UK die in poverty every year, and that the risk of poverty is highly concentrated among people who die before pension age. This new research, funded by end-of-life charity Marie Curie, evaluates the costs and benefits of giving working age people with terminal illness early access to the State Pension. The findings show that giving this group early access to their State Pension could almost halve their rate of poverty across the UK, lifting more than 8,600 dying people out of poverty every year. The cost of introducing this change, £114.4 million per year, is 0.1% of the annual State Pension bill and just £4 million more than the Department for Work and Pensions spent on overpaying the State Pension in error last year. The research therefore demonstrates that the simple and cost-effective measure of giving working age people with terminal illness access to the State Pension could be a highly effective policy to reduce the risk of poverty for people at a time when they are already extremely vulnerable, both personally and financially. Stone, J. (2023) Policy interventions to alleviate poverty at the end of life. London: Marie Curie