Employees unaware of impending pension changes

Making the most of a pension review and selecting the right annuities can help individuals to enjoy a good standard of living in their post-work years. However, to be able to achieve this, people have to have saved into their pension funds in the first place.

At present, many workers in Britain are failing to make provisions for their retirement. In a bid to address this, the government is changing the rules governing workplace pensions. As of October this year, employers will automatically enrol staff members into pensions. This will apply to employees who do not already have pensions at work, are aged 22 or over, are under the state pension age, earn more than £7,475 a year and work in the UK.

However, research conducted by Aviva suggests that many individuals do not know about the impending changes.

In its Working Lives report, the firm found that 68 per cent of employees have little or no knowledge of automatic enrolment. It also discovered that while 43 per cent of workers currently without a pension said they would remain in a scheme once they had been enrolled, opt outs could be "significant".

Graham Boffey, managing director of corporate benefits at Aviva, remarked: "When the first companies start to automatically enrol their employees in October this year, we can't expect an immediate step-change in how people save for their retirement - employers and the industry will need to make a long-term commitment to ensuring it's a success."

The expert went on to suggest that companies will have to find "relevant and compelling" ways of communicating the options conce
ing savings and benefits to their workers.

Thankfully, when people are approaching retirement age, they can make use of straightforward and helpful pension review services. This can help them in their quests to find secure the most appropriate annuities.