The UK Retirement Confidence Index from Nucleus, the independent adviser platform group in the United Kingdom, shows only one in four UK adults are confident they’ll have “enough money to live comfortably” in retirement.
Other key research findings include:
- Amidst all the speculation over the upcoming budget, retirement confidence in the UK has fallen to its lowest point since the survey began.
- Only 26% of adults confident they will have enough money to live comfortably for the rest of their lives (down from 34% last year).
- The overall Retirement Confidence Index score now stands at 4.2 out of 10, down from 4.6 in 2024 and 6.9 in 2023, continuing a worrying downward trend in confidence across all age and gender groups.
- The 45-54 and 35-44 age groups have the lowest confidence at 3.2 and 3.4 respectively. The next generation of retirees are less likely to have defined benefit savings to fall back on and haven’t benefited from auto-enrolment until later in their working lives. This confirms the need for prompt action.
- Confidence is highest among those receiving professional financial advice. UK adults who receive professional financial advice report a retirement confidence score of 5.5 out of 10 – well above the 4.2 national average – showing a strong link between planning, advice and long-term confidence.
The research, conducted by YouGov for Nucleus, surveyed “4,359 UK adults, evenly split between men and women.”
It reveals a growing sense of pessimism “about retirement prospects, driven by the cost of living, low financial literacy, and frequent speculation about pension and savings rule changes.”
The gender confidence gap has “widened again this year.”
Men recorded an average confidence score of “4.6, compared with 3.8 for women.”
Nearly half of women (45%) said they do “not currently contribute to a pension, compared to 40% of men.”
Whilst defined contribution (DC) and workplace pension membership is broadly level “between men and women (37% and 36% respectively), women are far less likely to have other forms of savings.”
Only 22% have a private pension compared to “30% of men, 25% have cash savings versus 35% of men, and 28% hold an ISA compared to 36% of men.”
This underlines both the financial disadvantage women face and the urgent need for more “targeted communication and support to close the gap in retirement preparedness.”
Andrew Tully, Technical Services Director at Nucleus said:
“The gender gap in retirement confidence is a clear warning sign. Women are saving less, have fewer financial products, and are less confident about their long-term prospects. We need more targeted communication, flexibility in saving options, and a concerted effort to make financial planning more inclusive so women aren’t left behind.”
The report found that 43% of UK adults do “not contribute to a pension, with 41% citing the rising cost of living as the main barrier to saving more or anything into their workplace or private pension.”
Rent and mortgage payments (24%) and debt repayments (16%) were also said to be “major obstacles.”