Today HRreview is marking Pension Awareness Day with a series of articles, advice and news updates on the state of UK pensions in 2015.
Pensions Awareness Day is an award-winning campaign that takes place annually on 15 September. The aim of the day is to promote the importance of saving for the future and to alert the nation that it is not saving enough for retirement.
The campaign also aims to encourage pension providers and employers to use more simple language and to look for more creative ways in how pension messaging is communicated.
The initiative was devised in response to concerns that people are not saving enough for their retirement. According to a recent report by the government, almost 12 million people are failing to save enough for their future.
This coupled with an increasing ageing population and uncertainty over the changes to the state pension, means that despite auto-enrolment being introduced to the workplace, it is clear there is still a long way to go in equipping people with the tools and information they need to help them save more.
2015 has seen major changes and reform to pensions, therefore what more appropriate time to get out amongst the people of Britain and find out how they feel about their financial futures, discuss their worries or concerns and provide guidance and support.
David Beattie, managing director of Direct at Aegon UK, believes that Pensions Awareness day is an important reminder that not enough people in the UK are saving adequately for retirement.
“Pension Awareness Day brings retirement saving to the front on people’s minds once again,” says Beattie. “Just seven percent of the nation is on track for the retirement income they want and it’s important people take control of their savings. Often the hardest part is to make a start and once you’re in a habit of regular saving, it becomes a lot easier. The industry needs to provide people with tools and services to make this first step as easy as possible and pensions that can be managed from smartphones and tablets are available now.
“Since pension freedoms, there has been a seismic shift in the way people access their retirement income and it’s energised people and got many of those closer to retirement thinking about what to do. Recent industry figures show that many have exercised their freedoms with billions withdrawn in the first few months, and similarly, we’ve seen the number of retirees opting for drawdown double year on year.Yet despite this, our research has found that income certainty is still the most important retirement income feature for three fifths (61 percent) of people and this unlikely to change.”
Pension Awareness Day from HRreview:
Pension Awareness Day – News: New research highlights shortfall in communication of benefits
Pension Awareness Day – Analysis: Plugging the advice gap
Pension Awareness Day – News: Experts hit the road to help Brits become better savers
Pension Awareness Day – News: National Association of Pension Funds release AGM report
Pension Awareness Day – Poll: Does your organisation pension information?
You can find out more about Pension Awareness Day at http://www.pensionawarenessday.com
