WORKERS hoping for a comfortable retirement are facing several key challenges and threats to their living standards, a report revealed today.

The past 20 years have seen the continued decline of defined benefit (salary-linked) pensions in the private sector and low typical contributions to defined contribution pension schemes, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) found.

It added that the introduction of pension freedoms has given people flexibility over their retirement, but individuals, rather than employers or insurance firms, now often bear the burden of the risk of poor investment performances and uncertain lifespans.