30 July 2026
If you are covering the latest personal pension and workplace pension saving statistics, please find below a comment from Adam Cole, retirement specialist at Quilter:
“The latest personal pension statistics from the government paint a worrying picture that is showing little sign of improving. The number of members who made an individual contribution to a personal pension decreased from 6.8m in 2023-24 to 6.4m in 2024-25, continuing a downward trend seen since the pandemic. The number of self-employed individuals contributing also fell, highlighting another policy area that has not be properly addressed.
“Pleasingly, the average level of contribution has increased and the overall level is at its highest on record, it doesn’t mask the fact that fewer people are saving for their retirement outside of a workplace pension. Given contribution rates to workplace pensions have been stuck at 8% for some time, and there being little appetite to up these, people are potentially leaving themselves exposed when it comes to retirement by not saving enough.
“Of interest to the government, however, is the level of pensions tax relief, which has increased by nearly £5bn in a year to £83.9bn. The biggest beneficiary of this tax relief continues to be employers, so it is vital that this incentive remains in place and the goalposts are not shifted. But, it is a significant cost, with 57% of tax relief being given at the higher rate of relief, and 14% at the additional rate. With the new government dogged by the same fiscal pressures as previous administrations, it wouldn’t be a shock to see the debate around pension tax relief spark up again in the run up to a fiscal event. Hopefully this new government recognises the damage such speculation can do.
“Meanwhile, the latest workplace pension statistics do offer some hope to the retirement savings of the UK. 90% of employees in the UK are now saving into a pension, with an increase of 600,000 people saving compared to 2024. Auto-enrolment has been a huge success story and has addressed a lot of the severe undersaving we had for retirement.
“Interestingly, we are also almost at a point where defined contribution pensions are more likely to be accessed for the first time over final salaried ones or annuities. The pension landscape has changed dramatically over the past decade and much of this is now starting to play out and become the new normal.
“Outside of the public sector, for most employees gone are the days of generous defined benefit schemes. The responsibility for saving for retirement now lays squarely on our own shoulders. It is vital therefore that efforts continue to be made to not only push workplace saving, but ensuring people are considering voluntary saving too, for example into personal pensions, particularly given the Pension Commission is considering what to do with auto-enrolment contribution rates to make sure savers can target an adequate retirement.”
