Topic: Auto-enrolment

Savers turn to Facebook groups as retirement decisions continue to confuse

Latest research reveals reality doesn’t match policymakers’ clean vision for pensions and retirement

Ten years after Pension Freedoms1 promised greater choice for savers, new research from People’s Pension2 reveals people approaching retirement are turning to Facebook groups to help understand their retirement options and make decisions about their pension savings, despite knowing the information they find online may not always be correct.

People’s Pension has published the latest findings of its unique longitudinal study New Choices, Big Decisions3, which has examined the retirement saving and spending habits of a selected group of older savers since the reforms were introduced in 2015. A decade on, many are still sleepwalking into retirement – unsure how to turn a pot into a pension and focused mainly on taking their full tax-free cash lump sum.

Facebook groups step in where providers fall short

Despite many attempts to improve engagement through planning tools, nudges, and guidance services, savers continue to find the pensions confusing and generic information hard to apply to their situation. Many lack confidence picking a retirement product and turn to Facebook retirement groups for help, finding them easier to navigate than official websites or guidance services.

While pension providers continue to offer more information on retirement planning, the research finds that communications often arrive at the wrong time or in the wrong tone, with little evidence they change behaviour. As a result, savers continue to make short term, convenience-led choices, rather than planning for sustainable lifetime income.

Tax-free cash rarely part of long-term thinking

The study finds that most people are continuing to take the full 25% tax-free lump sum, often while still working and when they have significant amounts of cash available in other savings. Rather than treating this as part of a long-term retirement plan, most people treat this as additional disposable income and quickly spend it on home improvements, gifts, or paying off debt, with any money left often moved into a low-interest cash savings account. Few realise that taking the money early can reduce their future retirement income or that it can be taken gradually over time.

Guided retirement critical to fixing messy retirement journeys

Since the first edition of its study in 2015, People’s Pension has called for the introduction of default decumulation products to help improve retirement outcomes. The ongoing challenges reinforces the need for guided retirement solutions to be offered to savers as an option, soon to be introduced through the Pension Schemes Bill4.

The study explores how these solutions could work in practice, testing features showing that with opt-outs work better than opt-ins, age 75 is the optimal age to introduce longevity insurance, and flexibility around early-retirement withdrawals is essential.

Negative perceptions of annuities remain entrenched, driven by worries about dying too soon to get payback from savings and wanting to leave money to families. Addressing these attitudes will be critical to the success of new guided products.

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

“This research shines a light on just how difficult it still is for the average saver to make sense of retirement saving after ten years of pension freedoms. Savers are still faced with too much complexity and the wrong kind of support, so it’s no surprise that many are turning to social media for help instead of professional sources. The system isn’t giving people the clarity or confidence they need to make decisions that will shape the rest of their lives.

“The reality is that the nice, clean vision for retirement of policymakers and pension providers rarely plays out smoothly in practice. Real-life retirement journeys are far more complex and, as our study clearly shows, people need simpler but better targeted support, underpinned by strong default pathways. Providers and policymakers must now work together to ensure new guided retirement solutions offer the flexibility, simplicity and inclusivity that savers need. These products must be backed by clear, well-timed communications that truly connect with savers and help them feel confident about their pensions throughout retirement.”

“The vast majority of savers don’t want to become pension experts; they just want straightforward options that help them turn their savings into a steady income. Guided retirement solutions have the potential to deliver that simplicity and security. The next step is to make sure these products are designed around people’s real needs, with clear communication and practical guidance that helps every saver make the most of their pension.”

People’s Pension launches new regular planning tool for members

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 research highlights barriers to pension consolidation as People’s Pension unveils digital Pension Finder

The UK’s largest commercial master trust, People’s Pension1 has launched a new free-to-use Pension Finder2 service for its seven million members. This comes as new research shows that many savers still struggle to trace or combine their pension pots. 

The YouGov study3, commissioned by People’s Pension, found that while one in five pension savers (20%) have lost track of a pension, only 6% of all pension savers say they have used a free service to find one. Latest figures estimate there were 3.3 million lost pension pots in the UK, believed to be worth up to £31.1 billion4. 

With almost half (49%) of savers saying that transferring pensions is scary and 17% of those who have previously combined pensions saying it is nearly impossible to find all the information needed to transfer a pension, the new tool will allow members of People’s Pension to search using the name of a previous employer or provider. This removes the need to find policy numbers or contact past schemes – a key reason members drop out of the transfer process. 

Developed in partnership with Pension Lab5, the service automates the retrieval of policy details and brings together fund and charge data so members can compare pensions and understand potential long-term outcomes. It sits within members’ online accounts and integrates seamlessly with existing transfer tools6. Crucially, the new tool includes a deliberate pause before any transfer takes place, giving members time to review all the information, consider guidance and make an informed choice. 

With 53% admitting they don’t really understand how pension transfers work, and 89% agreeing that more should be done to protect people from transferring into pensions that might leave them worse off, Pension Finder is designed to remove unwanted friction, allowing members to consolidate pensions easily, in their own time.  

The launch builds on the scheme’s wider programme to improve the transfer journey, following the introduction of the Pension Consolidation Calculator7 and Pension Overview webpage8.  

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

“Our research shows that people want the simplicity and ease of keeping their pensions in one place, but too often they find the process too complicated and not transparent enough. Our Pension Finder removes that administrative burden, giving members time and space to think carefully before transferring.  

“We’ve designed it to reflect how people really behave – providing them support at the right time, rather than pushing a transfer before they feel fully prepared or ready. It’s about empowering members to make choices based on clear information, not assumptions. For us, this isn’t just a digital upgrade; it’s another step towards a more transparent, supportive pensions experience that genuinely helps people make the right long-term decisions for their future.” 

Scott Phillips, CEO and founder of Pension Lab, added: 

“Our partnership with People’s Pension brings advanced technology and responsible innovation together to tackle one of the biggest barriers to better retirement outcomes – lost or hard-to-find pensions. By embedding our pension-finding and transfer technology directly within the member experience, we’re making it easier for savers to locate their money, understand their options, and complete transfers safely and confidently. It’s a real step forward in helping savers take control of their pensions and make better long-term decisions.” 

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

“I’m incredibly excited about the launch of our Pension Finder tool, which will help our members find all their pension pots and give them a better understanding of whether or not they are on track for the retirement they had hoped for.  

“This innovation is the latest that we have launched, and we have many more in the pipeline, which underlines the huge changes in our business over the last two years. It also reinforces our continued commitment to delivering even more value for our existing 100,000 plus employers and allows us to show our intermediary partners how we have repositioned from an auto-enrolment provider into becoming a leading workplace pension provider.” 

New research confirms ‘Value for Money’ metrics can improve pension decisions

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.” 

Pension transfers’ risk increases by half a billion pounds in just 18 months

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.

People’s Pension completes pensions dashboards connection

People’s Pension1, the largest commercial master trust in the UK, has today announced its successful direct connection to the pensions dashboards ecosystem. 

The Pensions Dashboards Programme (PDP)2, facilitated by the Money and Pensions Service3 (MaPS), is a UK government initiative aimed at improving planning for retirement and growing financial wellbeing by enabling individuals to easily and securely access all their pension information in one place, including State, workplace, and personal pensions. 

The connection will enable pension data to be available through the Government-backed MoneyHelper4 dashboard and in the future through private sector dashboards. Individuals will be able to see the total value of their pension savings and an estimate of what pension income they might receive at retirement, alongside details of who is managing their pension and where to go to find more information. 

Nigel Rodgers, Chief Information Officer of People’s Partnership, provider of People’s Pension said:

“Connection to the dashboards ecosystem is an important step in modernising pensions technology in the UK, which should help enhance data quality and data management processes across the sector. We’ve been working closely with the Money and Pensions Service to ensure we’re connected as early as possible.” 

Patrick Heath-Lay, Chief Executive Officer of People’s Partnership, provider of People’s Pension added:

“This milestone reflects a major collaborative effort between industry, regulators, and government. We fully support the increased transparency that pensions dashboards will provide UK savers in the future. 

“As dashboards become the main way many people engage with their retirement savings, particularly when making decisions about drawing income, it is vital that pensions dashboards remain tightly regulated.” 

Mark Condron, Chair of The People’s Pension Trustee Limited, said:

“This is a very significant moment for the Scheme, because it is a crucial next step in the evolution of both this master trust and the wider workplace pension industry. It has been great to witness, up close, the teamwork that has gone into making this project a success and is something that will benefit our seven million members.”

ENDS 

Pension industry poised to shift focus from cost to value as ‘Pound for Pound’ initiative unveiled

Government, regulators and leading pension providers came together for a roundtable (Tuesday, 22 July 2025), demonstrating the sector’s shared ambition to deliver better outcomes for savers through a joined-up approach to Value for Money (VFM).
 
The event marked the first public discussion of the ‘Pound for Pound’ (‘£4£’) initiative[1] – a pilot group of providers brought together by People’s Pension, which includes Aviva, Smart Pension, TPT Retirement Solutions, L&G and NatWest Cushon, and supported by Australian firm SuperRatings[2]. The initiative will explore how the UK pensions market can move beyond cost-based comparisons and instead assess performance through broader value-based metrics, understanding the practicalities of a process that will shift market conversations away from cost towards value. This is essential for the success of the Government’s proposed approach laid out in the Pension Schemes Bill 2025.
 
Hosted by the Minister for Pensions, Torsten Bell MP and chaired by People’s Pension CEO Patrick Heath-Lay and Emma Douglas, Wealth Policy Director, Aviva, the roundtable included[3], the FCA, DWP, Pensions UK and a number of the Mansion House Accord[4] signatories, including the £4£ Pilot group and Kirby Rappell, CEO of SuperRatings. Insights from Australia’s superannuation system were central to the session – highlighting how clear benchmarking, transparency and regulatory oversight have transformed member outcomes and understanding of value in Australia. The UK’s £4£ pilot draws on these lessons, providing anonymised benchmarking reports to UK schemes and assessing how qualitative and quantitative data can be used to meaningfully assess value.
 
Participants at the roundtable agreed that now is the time to collaborate with Government, regulators and the wider industry all needing to play their part in defining and embedding a robust and fit for purpose VFM regime. Intended to inform the impending regulatory consultation on VFM metrics, the discussion focused on how lessons from Australia and insights from providers could inform regulatory thinking and support the development of the Pension Schemes Bill.
 
Patrick Heath-Lay, CEO of People’s Partnership, said: “The Government’s drive to evolve the pensions market and centre it on value is a significant step change.  As a pension provider, shining a light on how we ‘measure up’ on value in a transparent and consistent way is a major shift but one that we must all rightly embrace. This needs to be introduced in a well-planned and effective manner that aligns to Government reforms, enables effective regulatory oversight and most importantly instils greater confidence in the pension system for savers. We set up the £4£ initiative to help inform this shift in focus from cost to value, and we are really encouraged by the shared appetite to collaborate and support this fundamental market change.”
 
Emma Douglas, Wealth Policy Director at Aviva, said:
“Getting the value for money framework right is an essential part of shifting the focus in workplace pensions from cost to value. The Pound for Pound initiative gives us the opportunity to test the key metrics in advance and to learn from this, as well as from the Australian experience.”
 
Zoe Alexander, Director of Policy and Advocacy at Pensions UK, said: “Getting value for money for UK savers is a key driver for the UK pensions industry. The Pensions Schemes Bill will introduce new requirements across much of the sector. We know measuring it is complex. We need clarity and evidence to establish the most effective data points for this new framework to ensure savers get the biggest bang for their buck, and to avoid excessive red-tape reporting. Though no system is perfect, there’s a lot to learn from our colleagues in Australia about their value for money outcomes regime and we look forward to testing this in the UK context.”
 
ENDS




People’s Pension launches new tool to help savers understand long-term impact of pension transfers

Leading workplace pension scheme People’s Pension1 has launched a Pension Consolidation Calculator2, a new tool designed to help pension savers understand the long-term impact of different charges when transferring pensions.

The tool allows savers to compare charges across different pensions, see long-term savings projections and understand how even slight percentage differences between charges affect retirement outcomes.

The launch coincides with a study People’s Pension has conducted3 which highlights that many savers only understand the impact of different charges when transferring pensions if presented with tangible examples. However, the long-term impact of moving a pension to a higher charging scheme is significant. Analysis4 shows that a 30-year-old average earner moving a £10,000 pension pot from a provider charging 0.4% to one charging 0.75% would be left £32,834 worse off when they retired at 67.

The need for a simple comparison tool to compare charges is highlighted by the organisation’s previous research5, which revealed nearly three-quarters (72 per cent) of people who transferred a pension were unaware of the fees associated with their new or old pension, and 11 per cent were unaware that their new pension had any charges at all. The launch of the Pension Consolidation Calculator aims to address these knowledge gaps and help savers make better decisions for their retirement futures.

The Pension Consolidation Calculator follows from the scheme’s Pension Overview6 webpage, which provides key considerations, such as investment performance and service, for savers before transferring pensions, as well as a one-page document7 integrated into the online transfer process, highlighting the importance of charges, investment performance, and service.

The profit for people organisation is calling for greater collaboration from the pensions industry to allow people to compare their pensions based on the information that matters most. They are calling for:

  1. A requirement for pensions providers to display simple, comparable and easy-to-find information on investment performance, charges and customer service.
  2. Pension transfer incentives to be banned.
  3. Pension providers and regulators to work together to create a consumer facing Value-for-Money framework to help savers make more informed decisions.
  4. Commercial pension dashboards to be delayed until Value-for-Money metrics are displayed across all pensions.
  5. An obligation on the receiving pension scheme to flag important differences between pension schemes, which may impact the final retirement pot, when processing a transfer.

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

“The pensions industry does nowhere near enough to help savers understand the impact of charges on their retirement pots when they are considering transferring. This lack of obligation on providers to be more transparent leads to a worrying number of uniformed transfer decisions, which are likely to be significantly detrimental to savers. This is exacerbated by incentives to transfer which often stops people reading the small print. It’s a critical problem because even small percentage differences in charges can have a significant effect on retirement outcomes. Urgent action is needed from the providers and regulators to help people make more informed decisions and to stop them from having to work for years longer before they can retire.

“The launch of our Pension Consolidation Calculator is a fundamental step in addressing this issue, helping savers make more informed decisions about their pensions to help them grow their savings. We believe all pension providers should offer clear, comparable, transparent information on charges so savers can better understand the potential impact of their decisions.”

ENDS

New Childcare Act expansion could boost UK pension savings by £1.2 billion

A recent expansion of the Childcare Act could increase the retirement savings of parents by £1.2 billion according to new analysis from leading workplace pension scheme The People’s Pension1.

The Childcare Act2, which was introduced in 2010 to provide 15 hours of funded childcare per week for three and four year olds, was this month expanded to working parents of children from nine months to school age. It is estimated that it will allow 60,000 parents to re-enter the workforce once fully implemented3.

The People’s Pension has calculated that this increased workforce participation could result in a significant increase in pension contributions. At total pension contribution rates of 8%, parents returning to full-time employment could save £333 million over the period in which they benefit from additional childcare funding. This is estimated to grow to £1.2bn at retirement age4.

If contribution rates are increased to 12%5, parents could save just shy of £500m into their pensions, estimated to result in around £1.8bn in additional savings at retirement age.

The individual impact of this would be significant, increasing the pension pot of each individual who returns to work by nearly £20,000, potentially meaning they can retire as much as a year earlier.

While the recent expansion of funded childcare is expected to make it more financially viable for parents to return to full-time employment, even those returning on a part-time basis could substantially increase their pension pots. The People’s Pension estimates that workers returning on a part-time basis6 could contribute an additional £177m to their pensions, resulting in £625m more at retirement.

Nicola Sinclair, Head of Responsible Business at People’s Partnership, said:

“As a nation we are not saving enough for retirement, so it’s encouraging to see that the Childcare Act has the potential to increase workforce participation to a point where it could significantly boost retirement savings across the UK. As well as offering much needed support to young families today, the Act can empower parents to take proactive steps to strengthen their long-term financial wellbeing.


“Having children is a huge life moment and one with big implications for personal finances, but so is retirement. We are encouraged to see the Act has the potential to help with both, immediately and long-term.”

ENDS

The People’s Pension calls for greater transparency and collaboration in response to FCA pensions consultation

The People’s Pension1 has published its response to the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) discussion paper on adapting the regulatory framework for a changing pensions market.

With millions of UK savers relying on workplace pensions for their retirement, The People’s Pension is calling for greater transparency and industry-wide collaboration to ensure pension transfer decisions are made in the best interests of savers.

The impact of misinformed transfers

Research from The People’s Pension highlights the significant impact that pension transfers can have on long-term retirement outcomes. Analysis shows that individuals could miss out on as much as 20% of their pension savings due to misinformed transfer decisions, equating to a potential loss of £1.2bn across the UK in just one year.

Further research, conducted in partnership with the Behavioural Insights Team (BIT), found that financial incentives such as free cash offers can lead savers to transfer their pensions without fully considering the long-term consequences. Additional research with Ignition House found that many struggle to assess the impact of pension charges, with some assuming that any fee under 1% is the same, despite the potential for significant financial differences over time.

Five key reforms to improve pension transfers

In response to the FCA’s consultation, The People’s Pension is calling for five key reforms to create a more transparent and consumer-focused pension landscape:

  1. Clear, comparable pension information: A requirement for pensions providers to display simple, comparable, and easy-to-find information on investment performance, charges and customer service.
  2. A ban: Pension transfer incentives to be banned.
  3. A consumer-focused Value-for-Money framework: Pension providers and regulators to work together to create a consumer facing Value-for-Money framework to help savers make more informed decisions.
  4. Delaying commercial pension dashboards: Commercial pension dashboards to be delayed until Value-for-Money metrics are displayed across all pensions.
  5. Mandatory scheme comparisons during transfers: An obligation on the receiving  pension scheme to flag important differences between pension schemes, which may impact the final retirement pot, when processing a transfer.

A more transparent and saver-focused future

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

“For too long, savers have been left in the dark when making pension transfer decisions – that needs to change. We’ve been campaigning for a step change in transparency, and this consultation is a crucial moment to fix a system that isn’t working in saver’s best interests.

“Our five-point plan sets out practical reforms that would create a more transparent and consumer-focused pensions landscape, helping to secure better retirement outcomes for millions of UK workers. This would ensure people can make informed choices about their future,. While the consultation is a step in the right direction, the industry must now work together to make it happen.”

The People’s Pension looks forward to working with the FCA and the wider industry to implement reform and ensure pension savers receive the clarity and protection they need when making important financial decisions.

ENDS