Over a quarter (28%) of UK adults have said that they don’t know how much income they will need in retirement, Scottish Widows has revealed.

Data from the firm’s soon to be published 2024 retirement report also found that one in five (21%) of those aged 50 and over still have not worked out how much income they will need when they stop working.

The average annual household income that people think they’ll need for a comfortable retirement is just over £29,000.

However, tracking this against Scottish Widows’ national retirement forecast, just over two in five (43%) of people would be on track to have this income in retirement.

The report also found that a third (34%) of people think they are adequately preparing for retirement, increasing to 40% among those aged 60-64. When it comes to those approaching retirement, over half (54%) expect to retire after they would like and 64% worry they will run out of money in retirement, compared to 38% of today’s retirees.

The firm said that the need for greater engagement is clear among those approaching retirement, as half of people in their fifties and sixties have still not researched how much they might need to save.

While 43% of future retirees expect the state pension to provide a "modest or significant" part of their income in retirement, it forms a significant proportion of income for 46% of people.

Scottish Widows added that it is therefore "not surprising" that 45% of those polled are concerned about changes to the state pension.

Head of personal policy at Scottish Widows, Peter Glancy, said: "Expectation versus reality when it comes to retirement income shows how vital it is to help people – especially those on the verge of retirement – build a clearer picture of what their own lives could look like when they stop working, and what they can do now to achieve the best outcomes.

"There are lots of tools available to help people get to grips with pension basics and work out the right steps to take to boost their retirement income, and the earlier we start thinking about our pensions as part of our everyday finances, the more we can do to close that gap."

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