Retiring on one income: why a single retirement needs a different plan

Two thirds of the single pensioners in poverty are women. And more of us are arriving at retirement on our own. The number of divorced people over 65 in England and Wales has trebled since 2002, to around 1.5 million.

The report, from former Pensions Minister Steve Webb, puts some sensible fixes in front of the government’s Pensions Commission, from easier pension sharing to joint-life annuities by default. In an ideal world, policy will catch up. Until then, we have to plan for the world as it is.

I meet plenty of people who are heading towards retirement on their own – some always have been, some are newly on their own after a divorce or a bereavement. Whatever the route, the planning questions are remarkably similar. And they’re different from the ones couples face.

Why is retiring on your own different?

A single retirement runs on one pension, one state pension, and one person’s decisions. That matters because a single household doesn’t cost half what a couple’s does. The council tax, the insurance, the boiler that needs replacing – the boiler doesn’t know you live alone.

At the same time, none of the couple-based safety nets apply. There’s no survivor’s pension coming your way, no partner’s pot to fall back on, no second state pension arriving each month. In essence, everything rests on what you build yourself. That sounds daunting. It doesn’t have to be – but it does have to be deliberate.

What if you’ve always been single?

If you’ve never married, your retirement is entirely in your own hands – and there’s a clarity in that. No compromise, no negotiation. What do you want retirement to look like?

Three things matter more for you than for anyone else. First, starting early and reviewing often, because there’s no second pot coming later. The earlier your money is invested, the longer it has to grow – though investments fall as well as rise along the way, and you may get back less than you put in, which is exactly why regular reviews earn their keep.

Second, how you draw the money. With one income, the question of what’s sustainable to take out each year carries more weight. There’s no partner’s pension to lean on if you overdo it early.

Third, later life. Care costs and Lasting Powers of Attorney need sorting on purpose, because there’s no spouse to take over by default. It’s not a cheerful job, but it’s a kind one – to your future self and to whoever would otherwise have to untangle things for you.

What if you’re divorcing or separating?

If a relationship is ending, my strongest advice is this: take the pension as seriously as the house. Research cited in the report found that among divorcing couples where a pension wasn’t yet being drawn, only 11% made any arrangement to share it.  We often meet women who let the pension go in a divorce because the house felt more real – when the pension was worth just as much, sometimes more. When someone comes to us mid-divorce, getting the pensions properly valued is one of the first things we do together.

And if you live with a partner but aren’t married, there’s something important to know: there is no legal mechanism for sharing pensions if you separate. Your partner’s pension isn’t yours, however long you’ve been together. Build your own pot as if you were single – because in pension terms, you are.

Where do you start?

What I would suggest is three simple first steps. Get your state pension forecast from gov.uk – it takes five minutes and tells you exactly where you stand. Track down any old pension pots from previous jobs. Then work out what your retirement actually costs for one, not half of what it costs for two. Have a play with the numbers – you might be in better shape than you fear, or you might spot a gap while there’s still plenty of time to close it. And if you’d rather not do that maths alone, it’s exactly the sort of thing we can sit down and work through together.

Just to reassure you: single pensioners are almost twice as likely as couples to be in poverty,  but that’s a statistic about people who couldn’t plan, or didn’t know they needed to. You’re reading this, so you’re already ahead.

A single retirement isn’t a worse retirement. It’s one that has to be planned on purpose – and it’s all yours to decide.

Catriona Bryden, Financial Adviser

Lasting Powers of Attorney are not part of the Quilter Financial Planning offering and are offered in our own right. Quilter Financial Planning accept no responsibility for this aspect of our business.

  ¹LCP, analysis of DWP Households Below Average Income data, Steve Webb, August 2026 
  ²Cited in the same LCP paper.
  ³LCP, analysis of DWP Households Below Average Income data, Steve Webb, August 2026