FOUR in 10 workers believe their workplace pension won’t be enough for retirement, while seven in 10 say a state pension isn’t enough to live on, a new survey has found.
 
The polling of 6,000 adults by Survation for Britain’s biggest union  Unite shows “fear of pension poverty” is a concern among a “huge section of workers” when they consider their retirement.
 
Forty per cent of workers who are already members of an occupational pension scheme believe it won’t be enough to live on comfortably in retirement, with just 31 per cent saying it would be enough.
 
There was also concern over the state pension, which pays £185.20 per week, with 66 per cent saying it isn’t enough to live on against 21 per cent who said it is. 
 
The poll follows comments from the Chancellor Jeremy Hunt last week who said he was committed to maintaining the “triple lock” aiming to maintain state pension levels in real terms. 
 
But Unite has said with real inflation at 14.2 per cent, pensioners will be “behind the curve” on price rises.
 
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham has said she will support workers campaigning for a “pension to live on,” adding: “It’s wrong that there is so much fear and uncertainty ahead of workers’ retirement because pensions are not enough to live on.”
 
Royal College of Nursing general secretary Pat Cullen said: “It is a sad day when the people who care for this country from cradle to grave don’t earn enough to provide for their own future.
 
“A lifetime of service should never mean a lifetime of poverty.
 
“With living costs soaring, this situation is only going to get worse. Some nurses are having to use food banks just to get by.”