Employers top the list for pensions advice

Oct 08 2004 by Brian Amble Print This Article

Almost half of UK employees believe that their employers are best placed to provide them with information on pension provision as confidence in the financial services industry plummets, new research has found.

Aon Consulting's the Pensions@Work survey, which quizzed 1,500 individuals throughout the UK, found that more than 47 per cent of staff thought their company was the most trustworthy source of information on pension provision.

Highlighting the lack of public confidence in the savings and investment industry, Independent Financial Advisors (IFAs) came a distant second, with only just over one in ten employees (12.7 per cent) ranking them as the first port of call for information on financing retirement.

But the government fared even worse, with an overwhelming 95 per cent of employees saying that they were losing trust in the government’s ability to help them plan for a secure retirement.

The research was carried out against a backdrop of highly publicised pensions deficits and scheme closures among quoted UK companies.

Aon Consulting's Simon Martin said: "The findings are testament to the fact that despite the current climate, employees rank their employers as best placed to provide them with the information they need to plan and save for their retirement."

“Individual members need much more help with money purchase schemes, which are rapidly replacing the traditional final salary schemes," he added.

"As a trusted source of pensions information, we think it is vital that employers strive to become the primary source of information for employees, they encourage and facilitate the information flow, and assist in providing quality financial education to employees."

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