Persons without Pension Coverage
- Of the people in employment in Quarter 3 2024 (when this survey was carried out), more than two-thirds (67%) had pension coverage of some form (outside of the State Pension).
- For workers with no pension cover for their retirement, three in ten (30%) said that the main reason for not having any pension cover was that they could not afford it.
- Just one-quarter (25%) said that they never got around to organising it, while a further 18% said that they would set it up at a future date.
- One in twenty (5%) said that other sources offered a better return for investment, while one in nine (11%) said that they were not offered occupational pension cover in previous employments. The availability of a spouse’s pension was cited by 2% of respondents as the main reason for not having pension cover. See Figure 6.1 and Tables 2.1 & 6.1.
Table 6.1 Persons in employment (ILO) with no pension cover classified by main reason for not having a pension, Q3 2024
- Of persons with no pension coverage, over half (52%) cited the State Pension as the only expected source of income on retirement, a decrease of seven percentage points on the same period in 2023.
- One-quarter (25%) were undecided as to what their main source of income would be on their retirement (17% in 2023), while a further one in nine (11%) said that they intended to join a pension scheme at a future date. Just 7% stated that they would rely on savings or investments. See Table 6.2 and PxStat Tables for comparison with 2023.
Table 6.2 Persons in employment (ILO) with no pension classified by expected main source of income on retirement, Q3 2024
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