31%
Of non-retired UK adults have not thought at all about how they will manage financially in retirement
67%
Of parents aged 38-48 have never calculated if their pension will be enough (Delphina survey)
8.6%
Of UK adults received regulated financial advice in the year to May 2024
£12,548
Full new State Pension per year, 2026/27 (£25,096 for a couple where both qualify in full)
Most UK adults cannot answer a single question about their own retirement. They do not know their pot size, their target, or the gap between the two, and the gap looks different depending on whether you are planning alone or with a partner. The data on this page covers both.
£12,548
per year, per person (£241.30/week)
The full new State Pension provides £12,548 a year for anyone with 35 qualifying years of National Insurance contributions.
Source: DWP, Benefit and pension rates 2026 to 2027, 2026/27
per year, per couple (two full pensions)
The State Pension is paid per individual, not per household. Two people each with a full 35-year record receive £25,096 a year between them, not a special “couple rate.”
Source: DWP, Benefit and pension rates 2026 to 2027, 2026/27
The amount is uprated each year by the highest of inflation, average earnings, or 2.5% (the triple lock); for 2026/27 the 4.8% increase came from average earnings growth. State Pension age is currently 66, rising to 67 between 2026 and 2028. It is designed to prevent pensioner poverty, not to maintain pre-retirement living standards on its own, for a single person or a couple.
£1,046
Monthly income from a single full State Pension
After 35 qualifying years of National Insurance
£184.90
Per week, basic State Pension
Paid to those who reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016 (£9,614.80/year), below the full new rate
The full new State Pension works out at roughly £1,046 a month for a single person, or £2,091 a month for a couple who both qualify in full. For most households, that covers basic living costs and very little else. The State Pension is a floor, not a lifestyle. Every pound of retirement income above it has to come from private provision: workplace pensions, SIPPs, ISAs, or property, whether you are planning alone or as a couple.
Most UK adults cannot answer the most basic question about their own financial future. The readiness gap is not just a savings gap. It is a thinking gap.
Only a third (33%) of people saving into a defined contribution pension have thought hard about how they will manage financially in retirement. The rest are saving, but largely saving blind.
Source: FCA, Financial Lives 2024 survey, Pensions findings, May 2025
67% of parents aged 38-48 have never run the numbers on whether their pension will actually fund the retirement they want, whether they are planning as a single parent or as a couple.
Source: Delphina UK Parents Financial Worries 2026 (n=1,247). First-party research; methodology below.
31%
Of non-retired UK adults have not thought at all about how they will manage financially in retirement
22%
Of non-retirees feel unprepared for retirement because they do not understand their options
25%
Of DC pension holders aged 45+ have a clear plan for how they will actually take their pension money
The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (now Pensions UK) publishes the only widely-cited, independently researched UK targets for retirement spending: the Retirement Living Standards, for a one-person household and a two-person household. Below, we apply the 25× rule (4% safe withdrawal rate) to the gap left after the State Pension, for both.
| Standard | Single (one-person) | Pot needed * | Couple (two-person) | Pot needed * |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum | £13,900 | £33,800 | £22,500 | £0 ** |
| Moderate | £32,700 | £503,800 | £45,400 | £507,600 |
| Comfortable | £45,400 | £821,300 | £62,700 | £940,100 |
For every £1,000 a year you need from your own money, you need roughly £25,000 saved. Take 4% a year and the money, in theory, lasts indefinitely. The 25x rule is a rule of thumb from the 1998 Trinity Study, not a guarantee: it assumes investment returns beat inflation, fees stay low, and spending stays roughly flat. None of these are guaranteed, and several UK researchers argue a more conservative 3.5% is safer for a UK retiree (see the FIRE section below).
Sarah and Tom are both 45. Combined, they earn £90,000 and hold £110,000 across their workplace pensions. They want a “moderate” retirement (£45,400/year combined, per PLSA) and expect to retire at 67, when their combined State Pension will be £25,096. They need £20,304 a year from their own pots. The 25x rule says they need a combined pot of £507,600 at retirement.
Current combined pot
£110,000
Target combined pot
£507,600
Gap to close
£397,600
To close a £397,600 gap over 22 years with 5% real returns, the household needs to contribute roughly £750 a month between them, including employer contributions and tax relief. That is a comparable monthly figure to a single person closing a smaller gap alone, because two incomes are funding it. This is illustrative, not personal financial advice.
The Office for National Statistics publishes private pension wealth by age band, among people who have any pension savings at all. These are individual figures. A couple's household pot is the sum of both partners' individual pots, which is rarely an even split (see the gender pension gap below).
| Age band | Median pot (individual) | Illustrative couple household ** |
|---|---|---|
| 25-34 | £18,800 | £37,600 |
| 35-44 | £39,500 | £79,000 |
| 45-54 | £80,000 | £160,000 |
| 55-64 | £137,800 | £275,600 |
| 65-74 | £145,900 | £291,800 |
Couples planning around a combined household pot should know that pensions are rarely split evenly if the relationship ends. Pension sharing on divorce, and survivor benefits on bereavement, both depend on whose name the pot is in, which is exactly why the household total in the table above is illustrative, not a promise either partner can individually rely on.
The people most likely to need retirement guidance are the people least likely to receive it. The financial advice market has contracted over the past few years, while a much larger share of the population is turning to AI tools instead.
8.6%
of UK adults
received regulated financial advice in the year to May 2024
15.6%
fall in adviser firms
from 6,283 (Q1 2022) to 5,304 (Q3 2025)
The 91.4% of UK adults who did not receive regulated advice in the year to May 2024 are not all financially sorted. Most are doing their best with the information they have. The result is a generation of savers, single and coupled, making consequential decisions, when to retire, how much to draw down, whether to consolidate pensions, without access to a regulated professional.
More than half of UK adults now turn to AI tools for financial questions, and that share is far higher among younger savers. The demand for accessible, affordable, plain-English retirement clarity is not being met by the traditional advice market. The supply has fallen; the demand has moved elsewhere.
FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) is the most-discussed personal finance movement of the past decade. The spending tiers below (“LeanFIRE,” “FatFIRE” and so on) are informal community terms used across FIRE blogs and forums, not an official statistic, but the mechanics underneath them are real and sourced.
FIRE is built on one calculation, popularised by the 1998 Trinity Study: save 25 times your annual expenses, then withdraw 4% of the pot each year. The maths holds for someone with a 30+ year time horizon and flexible spending. It is not guaranteed, and it is US-derived: subsequent UK-specific analysis has argued for a more conservative 3.5% withdrawal rate given the UK's different market history and tax wrappers.
| Informal tier | Annual Spending | FIRE Number (Gross) | After State Pension |
|---|---|---|---|
| “LeanFIRE” | £18,000 | £450,000 | £136,300 |
| “Standard FIRE” | £30,000 | £750,000 | £436,300 |
| “ChubbyFIRE” | £50,000 | £1,250,000 | £936,300 |
| “FatFIRE” | £100,000+ | £2,500,000+ | £2,186,300+ |
Sequence-of-returns risk (the danger that markets fall in your first decade of retirement) is the single biggest threat to any FIRE plan. A flexible withdrawal rate that adjusts in bad years reduces the risk of running out, for singles and couples alike.
£2.5bn
a year goes unclaimed in Pension Credit
Pension Credit is a means-tested top-up for UK pensioners on low incomes, single or in a couple. Around 950,000 eligible households did not claim it in 2023/24, roughly 38% of everyone entitled. For 2026/27 the standard minimum guarantee is £238.00 a week for a single person and £363.25 a week for a couple. Unclaimed Pension Credit is not theoretical: it is paid directly into bank accounts, and backdated claims can be worth thousands.
~62%
Of eligible pensioner households actually claimed Pension Credit in 2023/24
DWP, Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up, FYE 2024
~950,000
Eligible pensioner households not claiming the benefit they are entitled to
If you are over State Pension age and your weekly income (as a single person or combined as a couple) is below roughly £238 (single) or £363 (couple), Pension Credit is worth checking: the guarantee credit tops income up to that level. Claims can be backdated by up to three months.
Source: DWP, Benefit and pension rates 2026 to 2027, 2026/27
Take-up is consistently lower among single pensioners, renters, and those who assume they will not qualify. Stigma plays a role: many people who would qualify assume Pension Credit is for “other people.” It is not. For couples, both partners' income and savings are assessed together against the higher couple threshold, which catches some households that would not qualify as two individuals.
UK Retirement Statistics 2026/27. Delphina. www.delphina.money/stats/retirement-finance. Compiled by Syd Lawrence, founder of Delphina.
Reading the averages is not the same as seeing your number, whether you are planning alone or with a partner. The next two minutes show you where you actually stand against the same benchmarks, with your real figures. No sign-up, no jargon, no “consult a financial adviser.”
UK Retirement Statistics 2026/27. Delphina. www.delphina.money/stats/retirement-finance
Sources: DWP Benefit and pension rates 2026/27; DWP Analysis of Future Pension Incomes 2025; DWP Second Pensions Commission evidence pack 2025; DWP Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up FYE 2024; ONS Wealth and Assets Survey Round 8 (Apr 2020 - Mar 2026); FCA Financial Lives 2024 (May 2025); FCA Understanding the advice market 2025; Pensions UK (PLSA) Retirement Living Standards 2025; STRAT7 UK AI & financial advice study 2025/26; Delphina UK Parents Financial Worries 2026.
Compiled by Syd Lawrence, founder of Delphina. Last updated 1 August 2026.