Its research found that six in 10 (58%) are worried about the value of their pension and less than one in three (27%) trust longer-term financial products such as pensions.
The FCA has previously announced that it will work with the Government to develop a pensions dashboard in the longer term. But Which? says that so far there has been no public commitment from the Government for the creation of a dashboard, and no timeline for its testing or implementation.
Which? also wants the Government, regulator and pension providers to make sure everyone can fully benefit from the pension freedoms by protecting savers when they take money out of their pension, especially those who do not make an active choice; safeguarding savings in schemes that go bust; and publishing a review of the impact of the reforms and how they have delivered for consumers, before the end of 2016.
Which? executive director Richard Lloyd, said:
“A pensions and savings dashboard would go a long way to providing people with a complete picture of their retirement fund and, in turn, help them make the right choices. We are calling on the Government to use the Budget to push ahead with this idea and help people to secure better retirement income.”
Scottish Widows has also come out in support of a ‘pensions dashboard’ initiative, but believes it must include all pensions sources – including state pensions – from day one.
Peter Glancy, Head of Industry Development at Scottish Widows, commented:
“The absolute benefit to pension customers of having one easily accessible place to obtain all of the information about past and present pension plans and schemes is irrefutable. The current time and complexity in tracking this information down is off putting and having all the information in one place would encourage more engagement in pensions saving.
“But this must apply to all pension schemes. The scope of what should be included in the pensions dashboard has yet to be agreed but there is growing concern that it may start off with just personal pensions. ABI research in 2012 estimated that there was £2.2trn in UK pensions system of which £250bn was in Individual Pensions and £250bn in Group Personal Pensions. There is absolutely no point in just asking providers offering these schemes to be involved when they represent only 20% of the assets in pensions. We need to ensure workplace schemes and State Pensions are also included from day one.
“People using the dashboard as the source of truth regarding all of their pensions are easily going to lose confidence in the system if some schemes or plans are missing. To gain the greatest coverage a legislative intervention is most likely to be the push required to move this initiative along. An easily accessible, clear source of information on all retirement plans belonging to an individual would be a great opportunity to build confidence and engagement in planning for retirement.”
Kate Smith, Head of Pensions at Aegon, added:
“We’ve been a long-time supporter of a pension dashboard as we believe it has the potential to drive up people’s engagement with their pension savings, something that has long been missing.
"Having the ability for people to see all their pensions, including the State pension, in one place online could be a major step forward in helping people plan for their retirement. People will be able to see exactly what they have built up and what more they need to do to achieve the retirement income they aspire to.
“And people like the idea too, as it’ll make it easier for them to keep track of their pension pots. An Aegon Consumer Panel survey found that 91% of customers and 81% of non-customers felt they would find a pensions dashboard useful.
“Turning the pension dashboard into reality will be a massive undertaking, and to make this happen the government needs to work closely with the pension industry.”
