Yesterday we saw how significant gaps in pension awareness and engagement remain, with female and lower-income workers being disproportionately less likely to review their pension.

This proportion rises to one-quarter (25%) of female workers, compared to 13% of males who have never reviewed their pension. Those with lower incomes are also more likely to have never reviewed their pension savings, with 34% of those earning between £10k and £20k and 21% earning between £20k and £30k saying they have never checked their pension. This falls to 15% for those earning between £30,000 and £40,000, and 14% for those earning between £40,000 and £50,000.

According to the findings, the majority of workers (58%) understand what an auto-enrolment pension is, correctly selecting ‘Employers offer a workplace pension scheme and automatically enrol eligible workers in it.’ However, 23% misdefined it, and a fifth (19%) admitted that they simply do not understand what an autoenrolment pension is.

KEY TRIGGERS

The main reason for those who review their pension is receiving their annual statement (28%), which rises to 37% among those aged 35 to 64. 54-year-olds, compared to 18% of 18-34-year-olds and 28% of those 55 and older.

Other key triggers include hearing from their pension provider (19%), receiving their monthly pay (16%), changing jobs (12%), and receiving a promotion or pay increase (11%). The younger generation (aged 18 to 34) are most likely to be prompted to review when they receive their monthly pay (24%), change jobs (19%), or receive a pay raise (19%).

Please contact us for more information on how we can help protect your future financial well-being and the options available to you.

Source data: [1] Research conducted for Standard Life by Opinium, among 2,000 UK adults between
2–6 September 2022. All results are weighted to nationally representative criteria.

A PENSION IS A LONG-TERM INVESTMENT NOT NORMALLY ACCESSIBLE UNTIL AGE 55 (57 FROM APRIL 2028 UNLESS PLAN HAS A PROTECTED PENSION AGE). THE VALUE OF YOUR INVESTMENTS (AND ANY INCOME FROM THEM) CAN GO DOWN AS WELL AS UP WHICH WOULD HAVE AN IMPACT ON THE
LEVEL OF PENSION BENEFITS AVAILABLE. YOUR PENSION INCOME COULD ALSO BE AFFECTED BY THE INTEREST RATES AT THE TIME YOU TAKE YOUR BENEFITS.