IFS report: The Pensions Review: final recommendations

This is the final report of the Pensions Review, a major project launched in April 2023 by the Institute for Fiscal Studies. It examines the main risks to today’s working-age individuals in the UK pension system and sets out policy proposals primarily focused on improving outcomes for future generations.

The report highlights the main challenges of the current UK pension system, including how rising state pension ages have substantially pushed up the price of income poverty of people in their mid 60s, and that pensions freedoms expose some people to risks they would not have faced if they had a DB scheme or purchased an annuity.

The IFS proposes:

• A ‘four-point’ guarantee for the state pension to increase confidence in it as stable and secure.
• Extending minimum employer contributions to almost all employees and apply from the first pound of their earnings.
• Making pensions easier to manage, particularly through retirement, by reducing fragmentation across many pension pots, for example.

To download the full report, click here.