UK pensions: Retirement income remains below pre-financial crisis levels
While retirement incomes are rising they're still below pre-financial crisis levels, according to new research by insurance firm Prudential.
The average person who is retiring this year can expect an annual income of £17,700, marking the third annual increase in a row.
And yet average retirement incomes are still stuck below pre-financial crisis levels, with this year's retirees expecting to live on £1,000 a year less than their counterparts who planned to retire in 2008.
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"The third consecutive year of growth in expected retirement incomes is very welcome and underlines increasing confidence among retirees, possibly driven by the introduction of pension freedoms," Vince Smith-Huges, a retirement expert at Prudential, said.
"Pensioners are however still playing catch up with the expectations of those who retired before the financial crisis."
But the research, based on interviews with people who are retiring under the new pension freedoms which came into force in April, did suggest these rule changes had increased confidence among future retirees.
It found 56 per cent felt financially well-prepared for retirement – a slight uptick from the 54 per cent from last year's research.