The Retirement Living Standards

More of us are saving in a workplace pension than ever before. But will the future we want be the future we are able to get? The Retirement Living Standards have been developed to help us to picture what kind of lifestyle we could have in retirement.

Research shows 51% of people focus on their current needs and wants at the expense of providing for the future and only 23% of people are confident they know how much they need to save.  The Standards aim to help savers overcome this challenge and give them more confidence about their retirement saving.

Pitched at three levels: minimum, moderate and comfortable, they have been designed as a practical and meaningful way for savers to understand retirement saving. Like the 5-a-day healthy eating initiative, the PLSA’s ambition is for the Retirement Living Standards to become a widely adopted industry standard, with schemes using them in general information for their members, in annual benefit statements, or to develop personalised targets for their members’ pension planning.

The standards are an important part of the PLSA's objective of improving pensions adequacy.

Key points

• Research shows 51% of people focus on their current needs and wants at the expense of providing for the future and only 23% of people are confident they know how much they need to save.  The Standards aim to help savers overcome this challenge and give them more confidence about their retirement saving.
• The Standards are based on independent research with real people, and were developed in partnership with Loughborough University Research faculty. 
• They describe three different standards of living with a basket of goods and associated costs for each, made up of household bills, food and drink, transport, holidays and leisure, clothing and personal care, and helping others.
• The PLSA wants to see schemes representing 90% of active savers adopt the standards by 2025.

Visit the Retirement Living Standards website to find out more.

The Retirement Living Standards Awards

2023 Awards

The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association has opened applications to this years’ awards to recognise excellence in adopting the Retirement Living Standards for member communications. 

Launched in October 2019, the Retirement Living Standards are designed to help savers picture the lifestyle they want in retirement and understand the costs. Based on independent research with the UK public by Loughborough University, the standards cover a range of goods and services that are relevant for the majority of people across three different levels – minimum, moderate and comfortable. 

With the Retirement Living Standards accessible to more than 35 million savers through more than 124 different organisations, the PLSA has devised the awards to recognise adopters who have incorporated the standards into their communications in novel and effective ways. 

The awards are now open to applicants from pension schemes, providers, consultants, public bodies and other stakeholders who have adopted the standards.  

Entries will be judged against criteria such as saver engagement and innovation.  

Applicants should complete the short applicatin form (below) and provide any supporting material to showcase to the judges that they have an award-winning approach.  

Entries are open until 31st August 2023. The winners will be announced in the Autumn.

Download the 2023 awards application form