State pension amount 'inadequate'

2009 marks the 100th anniversary of the state pension

Three-quarters of Britons believe the state pension does not provide an adequate retirement income, a survey by insurer Friends Provident has found.

But despite 75% of respondents saying the state pension did not provide an adequate income, 57% said they planned to rely upon it solely or partly.

The study of 3,056 people also found the average person thinks they would need £832 a month to retire on.

This is nearly double the £439 a single pensioner gets from the state pension.

Cut back

The survey also found that a third of people think they will struggle to make ends meet during retirement, but that they were still reluctant to pay more money into a pension now.

Almost twice as many people said they would prefer to cut back on their living costs once they have stopped working than would increase their pension contributions now.

More people said they were likely to consider delaying their retirement for five years or moving to a smaller property than they were boosting their pension contributions.

The study was carried out to mark 2009 being the 100th anniversary of the first state pension being paid.

Pensions minister Rosie Winterton said: "Our reforms to the state pension make it fairer, more widely available and more generous and we've just announced the biggest increase in the basic state pension since 2001."