Nine out of ten parents think a service showing them all of their pension savings together online would be important in helping them save more for their retirement, according to an online survey run by Mumsnet on behalf of the Association of British Insurers and the Pensions Dashboard Project.
The overwhelming majority of the 1,200 respondents to the survey on the website for parents also said such a service would be important in helping them know what they had saved (96%), and giving them a forecast on how much they’d have to live on in retirement (96%).
70% of people said they had either lost track of pensions or know where they are but not what they’re worth, leaving 64% worried about not having enough money in retirement.
Parents are more likely to have career breaks, return to lower paid work and have gaps in pension saving, some of the reasons the ABI was keen to get insight from Mumsnet users about how online pension information could make a difference.
Other online services being used by survey respondents to manage their money, based on those who manage each one, include:
The ABI has been project-managing the creation of an online service to help people find all the pension savings belonging to them among over 80 million pension pots, along with information about their State Pension.
The Pensions Dashboard technology is mostly ready, but before the service can be offered to the public there needs to be a change in the law to ensure all pension providers and schemes will be involved, and to put the necessary regulations and security in place. Eight out of ten people surveyed supported a change in the law if needed to make services possible.
Yvonne Braun, Director of Long-term Savings and Protection Policy at the ABI, said:
“Despite the success of automatic enrolment it is widely recognised that most people are not saving enough to meet their expectations of retirement. It is encouraging that so many Mumsnet users say having access to all their pension information online would help them take action to save more. Now that so many people are comfortable using a range of online financial services, it’s an obvious next step to bring together all the information from all the different pension schemes people have over a lifetime so they can get an overview as they head towards retirement.
“People from all parts of the pensions industry have already come together to design and build the technology to make this a reality, and it’s great to hear just how much difference people think it could make to their financial planning. Now we need Government and the regulators to commit to putting the rules and regulations in place to make this a service we can roll out to the public.”
Justine Roberts, Mumsnet Founder and CEO, said:
“We know that parents, and mothers in particular, are more likely to have gaps when they’re not able to save into a pension. This makes it even more important they have some easy way to see how their retirement is shaping up, whether they’ll have enough money to live on, and what they can do about it. An online tool to bring all this information together should be regarded as a basic necessity and the necessary steps taken by Government, regulators and all parts of the pensions industry to make it a reality.”
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Notes for Editors
About the survey: All respondents are parents in the UK (mainly mothers, 96%) who have had at least one period of employment and who are yet to retire – total of 1206 respondents. Survey dates: 8-14 August 2017. The data has not been weighted.
About Mumsnet: Mumsnet is the UK’s largest network for parents, with over 12 million unique visitors per month clocking up over 121 million page views. It has 170 local sites and a network of 10,000 bloggers and vloggers. It regularly campaigns on issues including support for families of children with special educational needs, improvements in postnatal and miscarriage care, and freedom of speech on the internet.
You can find out more about the Pensions Dashboard Project at https://pensionsdashboardproject.uk/
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