Brits could access pensions before retirement for rainy days

The Resolution Foundation said that those in the UK could use these pension schemes as a rainy-day safety net.

It said the first decade of automatic enrollment into the pension had improved private pension coverage and boosted people's savings pots.

However, it noted that while the "one-size fits all" method has worked well during the first phase of auto-enrolment, the next would require a boost in the savings rate and a "more flexible" approach to handle new challenges.

Report says Brits should be allowed to access their workplace pension before they retire

The report argues that the default contribution rate should rise over the next decade from 8% to 10%.

The think tank added that this increased contribution should go into an easy-access "sidecar" savings account with any balance over £1000 going straight into the employee's pension.

Its report said: “It is time to view pensions as part of a broader savings strategy designed to balance the twin objectives of retirement and precautionary saving rather than pitting them against one another.”

This comes after it was found that one in three working-age adults live in families with savings of less than £1000.

Molly Broome, an economist at the Resolution Foundation, said: “Twenty years ago, and amid widespread concerns about poverty in later life, the Pensions Commission set benchmarks for how much people would need to save during their working lives to enjoy a decent income in retirement.

“Policies like the new state pension and auto-enrolment have delivered on their objective of giving everyone a decent minimum level of retirement income. But the job is incomplete.

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“And so the new Government’s Pensions Review, which could set policy for the next decade, should focus on tackling the different savings challenges that low, middle and higher earners face.

“As well as continuing to boost pension saving, auto-enrolment also needs to be more flexible. It should allow low earners to build up rainy day savings that they can draw on before retirement, while higher contributions for higher earners could help them get closer to maintaining their level of living standards into retirement.”

Patrick Heath-Lay, chief executive of People’s Partnership, added: “For millions, the combination of legal minimum pension contributions and the state pension will totally determine their quality of life in retirement. Any conversation about the future of pensions saving needs to start with the question ‘how much is enough?’.”