Topic: Auto-enrolment

The provider of the People’s Pension¹, the UK’s largest commercial master trust², has unveiled its new annuity guidance service, as part of its commitment to delivering better outcomes for its seven million members.

Working with market leading Retirement Line³, People’s Pension will now offer free-to-use⁴ enhanced support to members over 55 years old who want to consider the purchase of a guaranteed income for life through an annuity. This announcement is the latest development in the Scheme’s ongoing enhancements of the retirement options it is offering to its members.

A growing number of people are accumulating larger pension pots through automatic enrolment according to data from the Financial Conduct Authority⁵, and more are considering annuities as a way to secure a dependable income in later life.

Through its decade-long ‘New Choices, Big Decisions’ research⁶, People’s Pension has identified a need to better support members with the complex decisions involved in choosing their retirement options, including annuities.

By having access to Retirement Line’s services, People’s Pension members will benefit from a single, dedicated point of contact to help them navigate their retirement journey – from initial guidance through to finalising their annuity. This guidance service includes support to members in completing health questionnaires, helping ensure they are considered for the full range of enhanced or impaired rates offered by providers.

Members will be able to speak with specially trained staff by phone, who will support them in completing health questionnaires and help ensure they are considered for the full range of enhanced or impaired rates offered by providers. They will also have access to interactive online tools and tailored support for vulnerable customers.

Kirsty Ross, Proposition Director for People’s Partnership, provider of the People’s Pension, said:

“This announcement further demonstrates our commitment to supporting members as they approach retirement, by providing clarity at a time when their choices matter most. By offering our members access to Retirement Line, People’s Pension is ensuring they receive clear guidance and personalised support. This is about helping people make confident decisions in later life, with specialist expertise available at every stage of their retirement journey.”

David Meliveo, Chief Commercial Officer for People’s Pension, said:

“Employers want to know their workforce is supported, not just while they’re saving, but when they start making the big decisions that shape life after work. Helping people secure reliable income in retirement is a vital part of that duty of care.

“This new service gives employers confidence that their staff can access specialist, impartial guidance when it matters most. It’s a meaningful step toward improving long-term financial security and ensuring members feel fully supported as they plan for the years ahead.

“This is a great example of how a scheme our size and scale can pass on services to vast numbers of people without it costing them in the long term. While we have millions of members with all sorts of financial backgrounds and needs, this service will really help many of our members who cannot afford personal financial advice. This is a great example of what we stand for.”

Mark Ormston, Chief Compliance Officer at Retirement Line, added:

“We’re delighted to be working with People’s Pension. Especially during a period of competitive annuity rates and strong interest in turning pension savings into secure, guaranteed income. With healthy and growing competition across the annuity market, we look forward to supporting even more consumers in maximising their annuity income by comparing quotes from all the annuity providers on the open market.

“We offer both lifetime and fixed term annuity products on our whole of open market panel, with both products continuing to see increasing demand. In 2025, two thirds of our customers opted for a lifetime annuity, with 80% of these annuities being underwritten based on health and/or lifestyle factors. On average, these consumers received 12% higher annual income compared to the highest standard annuity offered on the open market.

“Whether savers are considering an annuity with all or part of their pension savings, I am confident that People’s Pension members will value the clarity, reassurance and support we provide as they look to make the most of their pension savings.”

• Nearly three quarters (74%) of IFAs say providers need new ways to engage younger generations
• Almost two thirds (63%) believe support should start earlier to help savers make better retirement decisions
• Over half (51%) say providers should play a more active role in supporting members in retirement
• 51% warn poor administration and service is a key driver of switching

Pension providers may need to adapt how they engage younger savers and support members across the full retirement journey, according to new research¹ from People’s Pension².

Nearly three quarters (74%) of independent financial advisers (IFAs) say defined contribution (DC) providers need new ways to engage younger generations, reflecting growing concern that traditional approaches  may not fully connect with those at the start of their savings journey.

That challenge extends beyond initial engagement. Almost two thirds (63%) of advisers believe providers should do more to help savers make informed decisions earlier, highlighting the importance of support well before retirement comes into view.

Expectations also continue into later life. Over half (51%) of IFAs say providers should play a more active role in helping members manage their money once they retire, underlining the need for greater support as more people move from saving into drawing an income.

When asked what DC pensions should offer, advisers highlight the need for practical, accessible tools that support better decision-making. Digital member platforms (41%), improved data and reporting (39%), and integrated retirement and decumulation tools (38%) are among the most cited priorities, alongside more personalised communications (34%).

The findings come as People’s Pension calls on the industry to move beyond traditional communication approaches and adopt new ways of engaging savers earlier in their journey. This includes reaching audiences in more relevant, everyday contexts and making pensions easier to understand and act on.

Stuart Reid, Distribution Director at People’s Partnership ,said:

“What this research shows is that expectations are continuing to evolve. Advisers want to see support start earlier in the savings journey and continue through retirement, alongside practical tools and reliable service that help members make informed decisions at each stage.

“This is very much in line with what we are seeing in our recent webinar series, Pension Talk. Whilst in the past younger employees were often less likely to participate in pension discussions, as they felt the core questions were more relevant to colleagues nearing retirement, that is now changing.

“We are seeing much stronger interaction and participation from younger employees, along with a growing understanding of the importance of getting started early. That will have a meaningful impact on their long-term outcomes, and it is encouraging to see.”

Part of ongoing enhancements to help members make confident retirement choices

The UK’s largest commercial master trust¹, People’s Pension², has launched a new regular income planning tool to support its in-scheme drawdown proposition. 
 
With more People’s Pension savers approaching retirement³ and an increasing need to provide greater support for people in retirement, the launch is the latest in a series of planned proposition enhancements designed to help its seven million members manage their pension savings more sustainably in retirement. The feature is another step towards a fully guided retirement experience, which the provider is developing in response to the evolving needs of its members.  

From today, eligible members who want to set up a regular income can use the planning tool to understand what level of income their savings can support. The new tool, integrated into members’ online accounts, allows them to choose either an income value or a target duration for their income, with projections based on modelling from Hymans Robertson. 

Through a new nine step and 15-minute end to end intuitive journey, members can understand, plan, consolidate and set up their regular income. They can choose to have their income adjusted for inflation, with annual reviews against CPI helping their payments keep pace with rising costs. To promote sustainable withdrawals, the tool will show an updated view of how long income is expected to last each time a user logs into their online account and will issue alerts as pots diminish.

It remains available for members to revisit and adjust as their circumstances change. In addition, eligible members will be able to seek help over the telephone from the People’s Pension team as part of its new retirement guidance service. 

Kirsty Ross, Proposition Director at People’s Partnership, provider of People’s Pension, said:

“As more savers move from building up their pensions to drawing them down, they need tools that make the transition easier. Our new tool supports members in that that shift, offering flexibility backed by clear information and modelling.

“Retirement isn’t a single moment – it’s a series of choices that evolve over time. We’ve designed this tool to help members manage those choices with confidence, giving them a clear view of how long their income could last and the flexibility to adjust as their circumstances change. This latest development is about giving members practical support that fits the way real retirements unfold.”

Stuart Reid, Distribution Director, said:

“Our employer customers are increasingly aware of the duty of care they have; to support staff beyond the workplace and into retirement. Financial wellbeing doesn’t stop at the point of leaving work, and helping employees make confident, sustainable decisions about their pension income is an essential part of that responsibility.

“What we have announced today helps employers feel confident that their employees are better prepared for life after work. It’s another step in strengthening the link between good workplace benefits provision and long-term financial security.”

Paul Waters, Partner, Head of DC Markets, Hymans Robertson, said:

“As the DC-only generation come to take their pension in ever greater numbers, there is a clear need for comprehensive support and guidance from providers.  Financial advice will not be practical for some. However, with the right guidance and tooling, as the People’s Pension are delivering here, it can make a daunting moment far easier and help members maximise their income while spending sustainably.

“We are pleased to be supporting People’s Pension via our Guided Outcomes® APIs to deliver a better retirement for their seven million members.”

The tool complements a wider set of resources designed by People’s Pension to help members make informed choices about their retirement savings, including the Pension Consolidation Calculator and Pension Finder service.

New groundbreaking research from People’s Pension¹ and the Behavioural Insights Team (BIT)² provides compelling evidence that ‘Value for Money’ (VfM) metrics can help consumers more effectively compare different pension products.      

Previous research has found that most consumers struggle to effectively identify higher value pension options.³ This new study, published today,⁴ which involved more than 5,000 UK pension savers, tested whether VfM metrics, similar to the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) proposed industry-facing metrics, helped or hindered consumers when they were asked to compare different pension products.  
 
The research shows simple metrics⁵ can help consumers better identify higher-value pension products when compared to a factsheet, the current status quo offered by pension providers. 
 
The study consisted of an online randomised controlled trial where pension savers were randomly assigned to view one of four distinct VfM metric designs or a factsheet, which served as the control group. They were asked to shortlist three pensions from eight unbranded options and received a higher score for shortlisting better value pension options. 

The research finds that VfM metrics significantly affect consumer decision-making, with different designs causing participants to focus on different aspects of pensions in their decision-making.  

​​​The study highlights that there is a “sweet spot” in simplification: too much detail can overwhelm, while too little can reduce trust​ and worsen decision making​. For example, consumers were better able to identify higher quality pensions when they were shown a 5-point RAG rating compared to a 3-point RAG rating. 

People’s Pension has previously highlighted that the introduction of pensions dashboards will help consumers track their pensions, however, its research has shown how vulnerable people are in the decision-making process when transferring pensions, meaning the need for easy-to-understand metrics about the value of a product is vital.  

The most recent findings follow previous research⁶ from People’s Pension and BIT, showing that cash incentives can result in consumers switching their pension to a poorer value option, ignoring the fine print and key information. This new research aimed to examine how consumers can be supported with better value for money metrics when it comes to their pension.      

The study comes ahead of an FCA consultation into VfM metrics, which previously focused on professional users only and where a further consultation is anticipated later in the year. People’s Pension has long called for greater transparency and comparability across the pensions market to improve consumers’ ability to choose, including a consumer version of VfM metrics to be on private-sector pensions dashboards. 

Patrick Heath-Lay, CEO, People’s Pension, said:

“Research tells us that people make decisions about transferring their pension very quickly, often in less than 24 hours. Too often they don’t have the information they need to make a good, comparable decision, and they end up losing out. 

“This latest study from BIT shows that Value for Money metrics, designed for consumer use, is an idea with legs and is something that could ultimately lead to better outcomes for pension savers. Boiling down the most important indicators of the value a pension scheme offers into a metric is more effective in communicating that value than a factsheet. Regulators should make the professional-facing value for money metrics, currently in development, also suitable for consumer use. It’s vital that consumers are easily able to compare the value offered by other pension schemes in a transparent and consistent way, particularly in advance of commercial dashboards being available.” 

Sujatha Krishnan-Barman, Head of Consumers and Business Markets at BIT, said:

“A well-designed Value for Money metric can help people make the right choices for their pensions. Testing and validating these metrics in the real-world is the only way to fully understand how they will affect consumer decisions. It’s important that the industry and regulators consider how they can be developed to make them consistent, comparable, and ultimately in the best interests of consumers.” 

Projected losses from poorly informed pension transfer decisions have increased by half a billion pounds in just 18 months, according to new analysis from People’s Pension¹. 

The UK’s biggest commercial master trust has released the latest edition of its Pension Transfer Outcomes Index², revealing that pension savers could be losing £1.7bn from their pension pots due to poorly informed transfers made in the year to 30 June 2025 – a 42% increase from the £1.2bn at risk from decisions made in 2023.

The Index, which models the financial impact of transferring pensions into higher-charging schemes, shows that this risk has surged by 120% since 2023. As transfer activity continues to rise, the associated risk is growing at an average rate of 22% per year. Based on current trends, the pension provider now forecasts that uninformed transfers will become a multi-billion-pound problem by 2027 – significantly earlier than its previous estimate of the end of the decade⁴.

Previous research shows pension savers often make pension transfer decisions without fully grasping the financial consequences⁵. With many struggling to find the basic information they need to accurately compare schemes, new research from People’s Pension⁶ has found nearly all pension savers (96%) think pension providers should be required to tell people about the impact of the charges they will pay if they transfer a pension to a new provider.

The research also reveals that half of pension savers (53%) don’t really understand how transfers work and a fifth (20%) think they are a gamble. Pension savers lack confidence to make transfer decisions unsupported, with two thirds (65%) saying they need the help of a professional to consolidate a pension.

People’s Pension continues to call for greater collaboration from the pensions industry to enable people to compare their pensions based on the information that matters most. Its five-point-plan⁷ includes calls to ban transfer incentives and industry collaboration to create a consumer-facing ‘value for money’ framework, which must be clearly displayed on any future commercial pension dashboards.

Patrick Heath-Lay, CEO, People’s Pension, said:

“It’s alarming to see such a rapid escalation of the pension transfers problem, which is fast becoming a crisis, especially when you consider the significant impact on people’s retirement savings. Savers risk ending up with thousands of pounds less and working for years more. And with massive rises in transfer volumes expected when pensions dashboards come into effect, it is essential that the industry acts now to address this issue.

“Pension savers must be able to easily access and compare all the information they need to make informed, educated transfer decisions. It is therefore vital that simple, easy-to-understand comparisons of value are on commercial pensions dashboards when they launch.

“With the Governments pension review focusing on value only in the workplace pension market and a new commission looking at adequacy of saving, it is appalling to see the amount of value being needlessly lost due to the vulnerability of consumers. More onus must be put on providers to flag to members when they are transferring to higher charging schemes to ensure members understand the long term implications. With so many people under pensioned it is unacceptable for savers to be losing out by making uniformed decisions like this.”

To help pension savers understand the long-term impact of charges and assess the effects of transferring pensions on their retirement savings, it recently launched a Pension Consolidation Calculator⁸. The tool allows pension savers to compare charges across different pensions, see long-term savings projections and understand how small percentage differences in charges can have a large difference on the value of their pension pot at retirement.