This report updates and refines Mintel’s Changing Face of Retirement Planning - UK, November 2003, providing an overview of the entire market for retirement savings products, as well as the social, economic and cultural factors that impact on the market. At the time of the previous report, issues such as under-saving and the demographic time bomb were the key problems facing the pensions industry and a government determined to take steps to minimise the future burden of pensioners upon the state. Two and a half years on, relatively little has changed. There has been some movement – the stock market has recovered significantly, and investors are showing a greater willingness to invest in shares, rather than property. Furthermore, there are signs that consumers are starting to cut back on their spending and to increase their savings levels. However, mistrust is still an issue, while the increase in savings levels is still nowhere near enough to significantly narrow the savings gap.

This report examines these changes in the level of savings in the UK over the last few years, as well as other changing aspects of consumer behaviour – in particular the conflict between spending and saving, and the huge growth in consumer credit that has been seen in the UK. This latter aspect of the market is particularly important if the market is to be fully understood – retirement savings planning has to be seen in the context of the wider economy and consumer preferences if any meaningful attempt to narrow the savings gap is to be made.