00:00So every year we run a big annual survey about how people are thinking and feeling about
00:05pensions and retirement. And what we found this year is something called the retirement
00:11expectation gap has never been bigger. And that's the gap, as you say, between the age
00:16at which people say they'd like to retire, which on average is about 62 in the UK at
00:21the moment, and the age at which they realistically think they're going to need to work to. And
00:27that's now almost 68. So we're seeing an over five-year gap on average.
00:33I understand that the retirement gap is a little bit wider in the northeast than other areas.
00:38Is that correct?
00:39Actually, the northeast is the region of the UK with the largest retirement expectation
00:45gap. So it's over six and a half years for people in the northeast on average. And that
00:51compares to the smallest gap, which is in greater London.
00:54Have you got any idea what the reason for that would be?
00:58Well, I mean, overall, I think the gap is driven by how people are feeling about their financial
01:05circumstances in the here and now, and the financial pressures that lots of families across
01:09the country are facing to meet their needs today, let alone think about putting money aside
01:15for their long-term future. And I think in areas of the country that have got a little bit
01:20more economic deprivation, people have got more challenges finding and staying in good work,
01:26there's less high-paid work, rates of pension saving are a bit lower. And I think that's really
01:32at the heart of it.
01:33In a region where there's a lot of employment in manual industries or in the care industries,
01:39what needs to change from employers, I guess from individuals themselves, or possibly from the
01:44pension system to make that longer work expectation sustainable?
01:50It would be more access to flexible work and making sure that employers are really thinking
01:57hard about job design and how the teams that they've got, the work that they've got could
02:03be distributed in different ways that would allow people to work a little bit less, a little bit
02:07more flexibly, and then be able to sustain that career for a few more years.
02:12This statistic has actually got to be a real worry for people who are maybe a lot further
02:17away from retirement now.
02:19Getting work early and beginning to save into your pension early is tremendously important
02:25if you can, because of the beauty of that pension pot being subject to interest, to compound
02:31interest, and to being invested in the stock market and getting those investment returns
02:35over your life. That pound that you put in if you're working in your early 20s is worth so
02:41much more to you when you then get to your late 60s. But if you're struggling to find and stay
02:47in good
02:47work at the start of your career, we know that has real risks for your ability to stay and work
02:54for the rest of your career. So yeah, this issue of youth unemployment is a serious concern at the moment.
