Over half of Brits admit to doing little to no research on retirement

Pension Awareness Day (Monday 15th September 2025) is a key reminder for people to take action and review their retirement savings to get a realistic sense of their pension options.

This comes as Scottish Widows’ latest Retirement Report finds that half (51%) of people admit they’ve done little to no research on how much they need to save for retirement, potentially putting them at risk later in life.

The research also revealed many aren’t doing enough to prepare for retirement:

• Nearly a quarter of people (23%) aren’t currently saving for retirement at all, and over a third (39%) aren’t saving nearly enough for what they will need in later life
• A quarter (25%) aren’t confident managing their savings for retirement because they’re not sure how pensions work
• 26% of people haven’t thought about how they will spend their retirement
• 19% of people don’t know how they will fund their retirement

Robert Cochran, Retirement Expert at Scottish Widows, commented: “Retirement planning is much more than simply putting money away for the future. Tracing old pensions, setting up additional investments to support retirement funds, and thinking about how and where you want to spend your twilight years are all important aspects that can’t be overlooked.

“Our research paints a stark picture of how unprepared people in the UK are for retirement, with many admitting to not doing enough to support themselves later in life. This puts them at risk of being one of the 15.3 million people facing poverty in retirement. Pension Awareness Day offers an opportunity to take stock of retirement plans and ensure people are on the right track with their long-term savings by providing practical tips and online resources to better support people in making the right decisions to build up a comfortable retirement