Jul 31, 2026 · 51 min · 14 segments
**The government has launched a new Pensions Commission, raising the prospect of significant changes to how people save for retirement.** Are people currently saving enough? Should minimum workplace…
Jonathan CribbGuest
Heidi KarjalainenGuest
Christine FarquharsonHost
If anything, the current generation of young pensioners, people born in the '50s, if anything, they look like they oversaved as a kind of generation rather than undersaved.
So we don't just have the kind of theoretical, "Oh, that's a bit of a concern," we have actual data on like these people are just far better off than they were in working age.
And so I think, you know, we should have that little person on our shoulder when thinking about extra sa- saving going, "Are you sure? Are you sure you need to be doing extra saving? And, uh, and, and who for?"
Last year, the government launched a new pensions commission due to release its recommendations early next year, and that has raised expectations of some fairly significant changes to the way we save for retirement.
Many people also save into private pensions, either on their own or through their employer, and so the central question is a simple one, "Are people saving enough for retirement? And what can or should the government do to help?" Welcome to the IFS Zooms In.
Often when pensions hit the news, it's questions about the system pensioners face today, the triple lock on the value of the state pension, compensation for women whose state pension age rose, how well off pensioners are, what the state pension age even is.
We've tackled many of those issues in previous episodes, including in our miniseries back in April.
But today we want to take a forward look, so we're turning our attention to the pensioners of the future, the younger generations who are working now and perhaps for many years to come.
Why do governments want people to save privately, and how much do they actually need to put aside? We'll then look at three of the biggest issues facing the new pensions commission.
First, should the minimum pension contributions be increased to get individuals to save more through their working lives? Second, how can the government encourage more self-employed people to save? And finally, should we be worried about people using up their pension wealth in their late 50s and early 60s before they reach the state pension age? To discuss all of that, I'm joined by Jonathan Cribb and Heidi Karjaluoma, researchers here at the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
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If anything, the current generation of young pensioners, people born in the '50s, if anything, they look like they oversaved as a kind of generation rather than undersaved.
So we don't just have the kind of theoretical, "Oh, that's a bit of a concern," we have actual data on like these people are just far better off than they were in working age.
And so I think, you know, we should have that little person on our shoulder when thinking about extra sa- saving going, "Are you sure? Are you sure you need to be doing extra saving? And, uh, and, and who for?"
Last year, the government launched a new pensions commission due to release its recommendations early next year, and that has raised expectations of some fairly significant changes to the way we save for retirement.
Many people also save into private pensions, either on their own or through their employer, and so the central question is a simple one, "Are people saving enough for retirement? And what can or should the government do to help?" Welcome to the IFS Zooms In.
Often when pensions hit the news, it's questions about the system pensioners face today, the triple lock on the value of the state pension, compensation for women whose state pension age rose, how well off pensioners are, what the state pension age even is.
We've tackled many of those issues in previous episodes, including in our miniseries back in April.
But today we want to take a forward look, so we're turning our attention to the pensioners of the future, the younger generations who are working now and perhaps for many years to come.
Why do governments want people to save privately, and how much do they actually need to put aside? We'll then look at three of the biggest issues facing the new pensions commission.
First, should the minimum pension contributions be increased to get individuals to save more through their working lives? Second, how can the government encourage more self-employed people to save? And finally, should we be worried about people using up their pension wealth in their late 50s and early 60s before they reach the state pension age? To discuss all of that, I'm joined by Jonathan Cribb and Heidi Karjaluoma, researchers here at the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
