Report

Perfectly adequate?

Think tank: Resolution Foundation

Author(s): Molly Broome; Ian Mulheirn

October 10, 2024

This report from UK think tank the Resolution Foundation revisits pensions adequacy 20 years after the Pensions Commission.

In 2002, the Labour Government established the Pensions Commission to review the UK’s private pensions system and make recommendations for reform. Twenty years on from the Commission’s landmark first report, the auto-enrolment pension regime it proposed has finally come to fruition, revolutionising pension coverage in the UK. But alongside the rollout of this pioneering policy, the tax system and State Pension have undergone significant reform, and there have been huge swings in the economic and financial environment. These changes have crucial implications for whether pensions policy can provide an adequate retirement income.

So, the time is ripe to revisit pensions policy. This paper explores what we’ve learned since the Pensions Commission made its recommendations and considers what the changes of the past 20 years mean for pension adequacy. In doing so, we seek to frame some of the critical questions the new pensions review should address as it charts a course for the next decade of pensions policy.