Retirement Living Standards awards launched

The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) has launched a new series of awards to recognise excellence in adopting the Retirement Living Standards for member communications.

Launched in October 2019, the Retirement Living Standards are designed to help savers picture the lifestyle they want in retirement and understand the costs. Based on independent research with the UK public by Loughborough University, the standards cover a range of goods and services that are relevant for the majority of people across three different levels – minimum, moderate and comfortable.

A single person will need to spend about £10k a year to achieve the minimum living standard, £20k a year for moderate, and £30k a year for comfortable. This can be summarised as 10k-20k-30k or for couples, it's 15k-30k-45k. Like the 5-a-day healthy eating maxim, the PLSA intends for the standards to become a rule of thumb for retirement planning.

With the Retirement Living Standards now accessible to more than 14 million savers through more than 50 different organisations, the PLSA has devised the awards to recognise adopters who have incorporated the standards into their communications in novel and effective ways.

The PLSA has set an adoption target for 90% of active savers to be able to access the Retirement Living Standards via their pension provider by 2025. It is expected that the awards will showcase best practice and encourage others to adopt them.

The awards are open to pension schemes, providers, consultants, public bodies and other stakeholders who have adopted the standards.

They will be judged by a panel of industry experts who will take into consideration the scale and available resources of the organisation making the entry, so size does not preclude smaller organisations from being recognised.

Entries will be judged in the following categories, with awards for each:

• Saver engagement – for the entry which is judged to have communicated the standards most effectively through aspects such as ease of use, simplicity of message, visual representation, personalisation and demonstrated comprehension.
• Fintech/Innovation – for the entry which most impresses the judges for its use of technology to integrate the standards into tools, calculators or personalised income targets.
• Exceptional smaller scheme – recognising the organisation which impresses the judges most in punching above its weight to communicate the standards to its members.

Further information and instructions on how to enter can be found on the Retirement Living Standards website. Entries are open until Friday 3 September and the winners will be announced at the PLSA’s Annual Conference on 12-14 October.

Nigel Peaple, Director of Policy and Advocacy, PLSA said: “The Retirement Living Standards establish a common language to engage with pension planning and are a really powerful tool for helping people to picture the cost of retirement. Through the work of the adopters who are making the standards accessible to more than 14 million savers, I have already been very impressed by the clever and innovative ways they are being used in member communications. I am excited to see how this year’s entrants are building on Retirement Living Standards and helping more savers engage with their pension to achieve a better income in retirement.”

Mark Smith, Senior PR Manager
 020 7601 1726 |  [email protected]k

Steven Kennedy, Senior PR Manager
 020 7601 1737 | 07713 073024 | [email protected]