Written question asked by Lord Grayling (Conservative) on Tuesday, 16 October 2007, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 18 October 2007. It was answered by Mike O'Brien (Labour) on Thursday, 25 October 2007 on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions.

Pensions: Personal Savings

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate his Department has made of the number of people who are saving insufficient funds for retirement.

Answer: Estimates published in the White Paper: Security in retirement: towards a new pensions system, suggest that approximately 7 million people are not saving enough to give them retirement incomes they are likely to consider adequate.Estimates of the current level of under saving for retirement are difficult to construct due to the difficulties identifying appropriate saving targets; uncertainties about which kinds of wealth and assets to take into account; difficulties projecting individuals' future saving and working patterns, particularly around choice of retirement age; and reliance on a range of other uncertain assumptions, including the impact of future macro-economic developments. Consequently such estimates should be treated cautiously.

Secondary information