IPSE: Over three million self-employed could face bleak later years

• 15 Sep 2019

On Pensions Awareness Day, over three million self-employed could face bleak later years

The Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed (IPSE) has warned that unless there is urgent change, 3.3 million self-employed people could be left without a pension within the next 10 years.

The new analysis, released on Pensions Awareness Day 2019, is based on the growth in freelancers over the last decade and the number who have never saved into a pension.

IPSE research shows that 55 per cent of self-employed people do not have a pension and at the current growth rate, the number of self-employed will hit six million by 2028, leaving 3.3 million without a pension. 1.74 million would also have no savings for later life through pensions, ISAs, assets or any other means. 

Jonathan Lima-Matthews from IPSE said: “It is deeply worrying that so many hardworking people could be left facing bleak later years because there simply aren’t products that work for them.

“Freelancers are the essential drivers of innovation for the UK economy, so we all rely on them being given every chance to thrive. The government has done some positive work, but it must urgently get behind innovative pensions solutions and push the industry to do much more. The longer this is left, the worse it will get.”

IPSE's latest pensions report can be read here.