Pensioner benefits

This research explored the prevalence of gifting in the general population and how it varied between different groups, based on a new quantitative survey was conducted with a representative sample of adults in Great Britain. The survey also explored the nature of gifting – including the number and value of gifts given, who they were given to, and the motivations for doing so – as well as awareness of inheritance tax rules and exemptions.

In England, state support for older people with disabilities consists of a national system of non‐means‐tested cash disability benefits and a locally administered means‐tested system of social care. Evidence on how the combination of the two systems targets those in most need is lacking. We estimate a latent factor structural equation model of disability and receipt of one or both forms of support. The model integrates the measurement of disability and its influence on receipt of state support, allowing for the socio‐economic gradient in disability, and adopts income and wealth constructs appropriate to each part of the model.

The “annuity puzzle” refers to the fact that annuities are rarely purchased despite the longevity insurance they provide. Most explanations for this puzzle assume that indi-viduals have accurate expectations about their future survival. We provide evidence that individuals misperceive their mortality risk, and study the demand for annuities in a setting where annuities are priced by insurers on the basis of objectively-measured survival probabilities but in which individuals make purchasing decisions based on their own subjective survival probabilities. Subjective expectations have the capacity to explain significant rates of non-annuitization, yielding a quantitatively important explanation for the annuity puzzle.

This report examines changes in the distribution of household incomes in the UK, and the determinants and consequences of recent trends. This includes analysing changes not only in average living standards but also in household income inequality and measures of income poverty and deprivation.

The extent to which people draw on their housing wealth in later life is an important issue, with implications for the living standards of current older individuals and their use of other financial resources, the likely bequests that will be received by younger generations, and policymakers’ assessment of the financial preparedness for later life of current younger individuals. Housing mobility at older age also has implications for the turnover and appropriateness of the housing stock.

In this briefing note, we examine how individuals’ financial wealth evolves as they age through retirement.

There has been lots of recent research and debate on individuals’ accumulation of wealth for retirement, driven by the concern that younger generations are not saving enough. Much less attention, however, has been paid to how individuals use their wealth once in retirement. In this note, we summarise the findings of recent and new IFS research addressing this omission and considering the use of different components of wealth in retirement.

The ageing of the population is one of the biggest changes facing society today. People are living longer, remaining healthier at older ages, and working and engaging in society for longer. This is an achievement that should be celebrated, both in its own right and for the opportunities it presents, with older generations able to provide assistance to younger generations and pass down their accumulated experience and wisdom. However, such changes are, of course, not without challenges.

This paper investigates individuals' expectations about their own survival to older ages and compares patterns in average responses about survival chances with actual and projected survival rates.

In this report, we estimate what has happened since 2015–16 to household incomes and poverty rates.

Andrew Hood contributed an article to this bulletin titled 'The changing generosity of private pension provision and its differential effects across generations'