Only half of working adults in the UK are making provisions for their pension, findings from a new survey claim.

According to the survey conducted by NOP World on behalf of Accenture HR services, examining British adults’ attitudes towards pensions, 46 per cent of respondents admitted to having made no pension provision.

High costs were given as a key reason by the young (below 35s) for stalling their pension’s schemes. While more than a third of the same age group believed they were ‘too young’ to be concerned with planning for retirement.

Older workers were also found to be ignoring their pension commitments with one-third of respondents coming clean to having no plans in place despite impending retirement.

Leisure pursuits including holidays in the sun and socialising were viewed to be more worthy of any extra pennies when respondents were asked what they would do with a surplus £100 a month.

Andrew Middleton, chief operating officer of Accenture;
“It is alarming that the British public continues to ignore its future. If this trend continues, Great Britain will be a nation of ‘poverty pensioners’, or worse still, people will be forced to continue to work through their seventies.”

Marriage and access to partner pensions were worryingly also seen as a route to comfortable retirement by many women, despite soaring divorce rates.

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