'˜Pensions dashboard' plea to help bewildered savers

The consumer group is calling for the UK Government to use the Budget next Wednesday to work with the industry and put such a system into place.

New research from Which? found that nearly half (47 per cent) of people over 50 who are employed and have a personal pension are not confident about the money they have saved for their retirement.

A fifth (21 per cent) said they have never checked how much cash they have saved in total in all their pension savings, and the same percentage would not know how to find out about the details of their pots.

Nearly four in ten (37 per cent) would find it difficult to keep track of their pension pots and more than one third (34 per cent) feel doing this is time-consuming.

Which? research has also found six in ten (58 per cent) are worried about the value of their pension and less than one in three (27 per cent) trust  longer-term financial products such as pensions.

The consumer group said while the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) previously said it will work with the Government to develop a pensions dashboard in the longer term, it wants to see the Government make a public commitment to its creation and a timeline for it to be introduced.

In March 2015, the FCA said it was in discussions with the Government to explore the best way to create a pensions dashboard which will allow people to see their pots all together.

The survey for Which? involved interviewing more than 600 people who are over 50, employed and have a personal pension.

Pensions have undergone a series of huge changes in recent years, with people being brought into workplace pension saving through automatic enrolment, which started in 2012, in moves to create a stronger retirement savings culture and head off fears of an old-age pensions crisis, with people not putting enough aside for their later years.

In 2015, people aged 55 and over were given new freedoms to take their pension cash how they wish, rather than having to buy a retirement income called an annuity.

Which? executive director Richard Lloyd said: “Deciding on a retirement income is one of the most complex financial decisions people face, but it can be difficult to find how much money you have built up over your working life.

“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.”