Being single in retirement – a key issue for the Pensions Commission?
Pensions & benefits Policy & regulation Personal finance
Pensioner poverty has been rising over the last decade, and new LCP research suggests that women who are single during retirement are most vulnerable.
Our experts have found that two thirds of single pensioners in poverty are women, raising important questions about how policy can better support women's independent access to income in retirement.
Key findings include:
- There are 1.5 million divorced single pensioners in England and Wales in 2024, triple the number in 2002;
- There are 0.8 million single pensioners who have never married, a rapidly growing group;
- Poverty rates for single pensioners are now almost double those of pensioner couples.
The paper considers whether pensions policy is keeping pace with these changes and explores different approaches for the Pensions Commission to consider.
These include strengthening pension saving for lower-earning partners, reviewing pension-sharing arrangements following the breakdown of cohabiting relationships, assessing the impact of no-fault divorce reforms, and exploring whether joint-life annuities should become the default.
