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Standard Life has introduced significant enhancements to its Retirement Income Tool, including a new feature that enables scheme members to model how part-time work or career breaks may affect their future retirement income.
The upgraded tool is initially available on the award-winning* Standard Life App and sits alongside a wide range of other features, offering practical guidance and financial wellbeing support, to help pension members to make informed financial decisions.
People move to part-time work for many reasons, from caring responsibilities and long term health conditions to navigating other life challenges. This can be hugely beneficial, allowing them to stay in employment and continue to earn and save. However, it can also have a significant impact on future retirement income through smaller pension contributions. Half (50%) of UK adults who have experienced a major life event say it affected their ability to contribute to their pension**.
The new feature on the Retirement Income Tool lets members enter their current working pattern, map out any planned changes to their hours, and specify how long these changes will last. It then compares projected retirement income before and after the adjustment, reflecting individual circumstances and pension contribution levels.
They can also factor in the State Pension to projections, whether they expect a full or reduced amount, giving valuable insight to support long term financial planning.
Analysis by the Standard Life Centre for the Future of Retirement found that women are disproportionately impacted by life events, such as motherhood, divorce, childcare and menopause, which can affect working hours and reduce their ability to save. By mid-life, where care responsibilities fall to one in four women, men are paying 50% more per month (£80) into their pension than women***.
The enhanced Retirement Income Tool supports with this by showing how changes to working patterns can influence future retirement income, highlighting practical steps people can take to help offset any potential reduction.
For those looking to take action, the Standard Life App offers full transactional capability, allowing its customers to manage their pensions and savings whenever and wherever they need to.
Most people consider taking a career break or reducing hours at some point during their working life. This can be beneficial to allow them to balance work with personal commitments or ill health. The enhanced Retirement Income Tool helps members understand what these choices could mean for their income in retirement, and shows the practical steps they can take to stay on track for their long-term goals.
We want to empower members to engage more with their financial futures, and enhancing our digital tools is a key part of this commitment. Too many people fall behind on their pension savings during a career break and when reducing working hours. Understanding what’s needed to bridge any potential shortfall is the crucial first step towards achieving their retirement goals.
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*The Standard Life App won the ‘best app experience’ in the BehindLogin 2025 Experience Award. This report benchmarks ten UK Master Trust Pension apps across ten core features, combining anonymised member walkthroughs with expert reviews.
** Research conducted by Opinium between 15 January and 21 January 2026 among 4,000 UK adults. Results are weighted to be nationally representative of the UK adult population.
***Standard Life Centre for the Future of Retirement: Caught in a gap (2022)
About Standard Life plc (‘Standard Life’)
Standard Life is a retirement specialist focused entirely on retirement saving and income.
We are proud to manage around c£317bn in assets on behalf of our 12 million customers, and we champion the belief that everyone's journey to and through retirement can be better.
With our focus entirely on retirement savings and income we want to be the business that people trust to guide their retirement journey, helping our customers achieve better outcomes and greater financial security in later life.
As a FTSE 100-listed group we are using our size, expertise and influence to shape the world our customers will retire into, and are committed to helping three million customers by 2035, take action towards a better retirement.
Standard Life is a responsible investor with a clear commitment to supporting a more sustainable future. The company has achieved its net zero goal across its emissions for 2025 and is working towards net zero investment portfolios by 2050 or sooner.
Standard Life is recognised as a leading employer, with long-standing accreditation as a Living Wage Employer, Living Pension Employer and Carer Positive Exemplary Employer and in 2025 became one of Britain’s Most Admired Companies in 2025.