This article is brought to you by our sponsor Scottish Life.
The UK has one of the most developed and vibrant pension markets in the world – members of pension schemes enjoy unparalleled investment freedom and tremendous levels of internet banking-style functionality. Yet often the good efforts of employers in providing these benefits come to nothing because staff simply fail to understand the value of what’s on offer. And as pensions climb up the political agenda and the spectre of the government’s planned National Pensions Savings Scheme looms, employees are naturally becoming more aware that simply relying on others to sort out their pension provision is not good enough.
Whether we like it or not, pensions remain a closed book to consumers. To open that book we must help employees understand and become engaged with planning for their retirement. That’s not an easy task – with mounting levels of consumer debt and competing financial priorities, it’s easy for pensions to lose out in favour of something more immediate. So while financial education leads to heightened engagement we’d argue that in pension matters you’ll also see value in dealing with a specialist, not a generalist.
Scottish Life is the pensions specialist arm of the Royal London Group, the largest mutual insurer in the UK. We are committed to working with advisers and benefits professionals to ensure employees understand and value the pensions we provide. For example, we’ve recently introduced a comprehensive suite of on and offline member communications material that can be delivered on a bespoke basis to fit the needs of each organisation. It’s initiatives like this that can prise open the previously closed pensions book.
Mark Polson, head of corporate business, Scottish Life
The views and opinions in this article are those of our sponsor, Scottish Life, and do not necessarily reflect those of www.employeebenefits.co.uk.