Industry experts comment on the campaign led by the Association of British Insurers (ABI) and the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) to boost people’s understanding and engagement with pensions.
Jamie Jenkins, Director of Policy & External Affairs, Royal London, said:
“Navigating the world of pensions can be difficult, so it’s encouraging to see the industry pulling together to support savers and help them make sense of their retirement planning.
“Long term savings requires long term planning and by helping people create a better connection with their pension we can help achieve that. Research tells us that almost half of adults want their pension to be doing good in the world and by tapping into the broader awareness of responsible investing we can switch more savers on to the power of their pension.
“An industry wide campaign can only help narrow the engagement gap and boost better later life planning.”
Sangita Chawla, Chief Marketing Officer, Standard Life, part of Phoenix Group, said:
“We fully support plans to boost the nation’s understanding and engagement with their pensions, through a co-ordinated industry campaign. 29% of people say they only need to start thinking about retirement planning when they get older, but the reality is the earlier people engage, the more they are to meet their retirement goals.
“To be truly effective, the campaign will need to recognise that factors such as gender, working status and income levels determine the types of communication people will engage with and the industry will need to target different groups with tailored messages over the period if we want to encourage real change.”
Katharine Photiou, Commercial Director of Workplace Savings, Legal & General, said:
“Boosting people’s engagement with pensions is crucial if they are to have the retirement they expect. No two people experience retirement in the same way and as a pensions industry it is on us all to make the whole process as simple as possible. As we approach the 10 year anniversary of Auto Enrolment it’s clear we need a step change. We support the ABI and PLSA efforts to make this happen. United action is the key to success with this, and we are proud to be one of the 15 providers committed to boosting people’s understanding and engagement with pensions.”
Emma Douglas, Director of Workplace Savings & Retirement, Aviva (and Chair of the PLSA), said:
“Engagement is a tough nut that the industry has yet to crack. The engagement season campaign is an opportunity to really help savers better understand what kind of lifestyle a pension can provide in retirement. Digital communications and tools are central to the pension revolution and providing information to savers in a digestible ‘bite-sized’ format is key.”
