Andrea Rozario, Director General of SHIP, the equity release trade body comments on the fourth – and final of the ‘Retirement Income and Assets’ series* – reports from the PPI:

“We fully support these conclusions draw by the PPI and hope that Government and Industry heed the indisputable fact that retirement and retirees and changing and how we finance this important stage in life needs to evolve. We also hope that this realization will translate into action as it is not simply enough to say that this is true, there needs to be action to alleviate the very real pension’s crisis that the UK is facing.

“This core conclusion of the report that ‘many pensioners may not be able to achieve desired standard of living from pension income alone’ is one of the strongest arguments for the further development and expansion of the equity release industry in the UK indeed, the report goes on to say that pensioners are likely to have a ‘greater variety of assets and income including housing wealth’.

“While, we believe that the pension’s crisis will get worse in the future, for many people this is not just a theory but a very real every-day problem. There are thousands of pensioners in the UK who are living on less than £750 per month** and many are likely to be sitting on considerable equity in their homes. These people could potentially benefit from taking out an equity release products and we urge them to speak to an adviser who can help them make the most of their retirement finances.”

* = This report entitled “Retirement income and assets: outlook for the future” highlights the fact that in suture many pensioners may not be able to achieve desired standard of living from pension income along. The report can be accessed via this link: https://www.pensionspolicyinstitute.org.uk/default.asp?p=12&publication=0260&

**= Aviva Real Retirement Report – 10 February 2010