
IFS researchers presented what we know about which groups of people are most likely to have low savings and how long this tends to last.
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Download Bee Boileau's slides
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Download Tom Wernham's slides
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Large numbers of households in the UK have very little in the way of savings they can easily access when they need it, despite being an object of policy concern for the government for a number of years. This was brought into particularly sharp relief by the COVID-19 pandemic, when many experienced unexpected big falls in income. With recent sharp rises in the cost of living, it will be increasingly important to understand which groups have low savings and why.
At this event we presented the findings of a new report, funded by the IFS Retirement Savings Consortium and the ESRC, looking at the characteristics of those who have low levels of financial wealth. IFS researchers presented what we know about which groups of people are most likely to have low savings and how long this tends to last. They also used data from the COVID-19 pandemic to show the extent to which a small amount of money saved can help during difficult times. After an IFS presentation of the main findings, Rob Yuille from the Association of British Insurers shared his thoughts on the research.
Authors

Research Economist
Bee joined the IFS in 2021 as a Research Economist and works in the Retirement, Saving and Ageing sector.

Senior Research Economist
Tom's main research areas are living standards and poverty, the benefits system, and its interactions with the labour market.
Presentation details
- DOI
- 10.1920/ps.ifs.2023.0010
- Publisher
- Institute for Fiscal Studies
Suggested citation
Boileau, B and Wernham, T. (2023). 'Who has low savings and how problematic can that be?' [Presentation]. Online: Institute for Fiscal Studies. Available at: https://ifs.org.uk/publications/who-has-low-savings-and-how-problematic-can-be (accessed: 19 June 2025).
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