Social target

Standard Life champions the belief that everyone’s journey to and through retirement can be better. That’s why we have committed to a new target to help three million more customers achieve better retirement outcomes over the next 10 years. 

To achieve this, we will provide support and solutions designed to ensure more people are on track for sufficient pension savings and more people are financially secure in later life. This target provides a clear strategic focus, reinforcing our commitment to prioritise the things which will drive meaningful change, helping our customers achieve better outcomes. It is central to enabling our vision to be the UK’s leading retirement savings and income business, that people trust to guide their retirement journey. 

Why does this matter?

Life today is increasingly complicated, uncertain, and unpredictable. Too many people are not saving enough for retirement, and too many don’t get the support they need to feel empowered to make decisions about using the money they’ve saved in their pension.  

  • 2-in-5 (43%) or nearly 15 million people are under saving for retirement1

  • Over a third (38%) of those who have not yet retired expect to have a worse standard of living in retirement than they do currently2 

  • One in three (29%) Gen Xers (currently aged 46-61) report doing no planning for their finances in retirement3

  • Only 1 in 4 adults saving into a DC pension are highly engaged with their pension4

References 

1DWP Analysis of Future Pension Incomes 2025

2,3Retirement Voice, 2025

4FCA Financial Lives survey 2024

 

So what exactly is the target & how will it work?  

Target: Help 3 million more customers by 2035 take action towards a better retirement.

We will evidence this by tracking improvement in two customer outcomes (where we have the greatest control and influence):  

  • More people are engaged in planning for their retirement  
  • More people are supported to make better decisions when accessing their pension  

We will track progress over a ten year horizon, reporting annually on a focused set of outcome metrics that show our support is making a real difference. Rather than counting activities, we will measure improvements in customer outcomes. 

How will we achieve the target?

We have identified and will measure the activity within our enterprise strategy that we believe will drive a step change in our customers’ retirement outcomes.  

Our strategy focuses on making the complex simple to improve engagement and confidence across every life stage:  

  • Investing in financial wellbeing tools, including our market-leading app, and tailored guidance that supports better decision making at the right time.  
  • Encouraging a savings mindset through our suite of savings and retirement products and our expertise in auto-enrolment schemes.  
  • Making retirement income work harder with adaptable products  

As well as the support we provide our customers, we are also influencing wider societal change by driving change that reflects how people actually live, not how the system assumes they do, using our size, expertise and influence to shape the world our customers will retire into. We will continue to create trusted partnerships, advocate for better retirements and convene to drive meaningful change, helping people imagine the later life they want and live retired life their way. 

Sufficient savings

We’re helping more people to be on track for sufficient pension savings by engaging them in planning for their retirement and helping them save more with confidence.    

Secure retirement

We’re helping more people achieve financial security in later life, by supporting them to make better decisions when accessing their pension and achieve sufficient income throughout retirement.   

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