By: George Holley-Moore

This is the first of a new monthly blog highlighting significant press coverage ILC-UK has received for our research, reports and events.

Over the past month we have published 4 major reports: Decision Time – Will the voluntary sector embrace the age of opportunity; Consensus revisited: The case for a new Pensions Commission; A jam-jar model of life expectancy and limits to life; and the first report of our Sustainable Older Society 2020 project, Here today, gone tomorrow: How today’s retirement choices could affect financial resilience over the long term.

Consensus Revisited called on the next Government to introduce a new independent Pensions Commission, receiving significant coverage from both broadsheet and tabloid national newspapers, regional press, trade press and online comment. The Financial Times covered the report extensively, along with The Daily Mail and The Express. North of the border, the findings of the report were covered in The Herald and The Scotsman. Meanwhile the trade press covered this extensively for a number of days, including This is Money, FT Advisor, City Wire, CityAm, Professional Pensions and Actuarial Post.

The middle of March saw the publication of a joint report by ILC-UK and Cass Business School, entitled A jam-jar model of life expectancy and limits to life. The findings of the report, that life expectancy would cluster in the 90s and that life expectancy of men and women would converge, was covered in national newspapers The Daily Mail and The Daily Express, as well as CityAM and Professional Pensions.

March saw the launch of the finance stream of our Sustainable Older Society 2020 project. Here Today, Gone Tomorrow modelled the outcomes of four different approaches to using DC pension wealth, and found that up to 1.4 million people may not be able to secure an adequate income in retirement. These findings were covered in the print versions of The Financial Times, The Telegraph and The Daily Express, significant regional press such as Western Morning News and the online trade press including This is Money, FT Advisor, Professional Pensions, Moneyfacts and Business Reporter.

Finally, our report Decision Time, in collaboration with NPC, discussed the opportunities and challenges that an ageing population present to the voluntary sector. After the Commission published the final report, the findings were covered in a special report in The Guardian, whilst in Scotland the research was featured in The Herald. The report was also featured in specialist press, including Third Sector Magazine and NCVO, whilst the issue of older volunteers was featured in The Telegraph’s analysis of the budget.