Ninety per cent of parents believe that the pensions dashboard will encourage them to save more for their retirement, a survey by Mumsnet has found.

The survey of 1,200 users of the site, which was run in partnership with the Association of British Insurers and the pensions dashboard project, also found that 96 per cent believe such a service would them know what they had already saved. A further 96 per cent also agree that it will give them a forecast on how much they will have to live on in retirement.

In addition, 70 per cent of people said they had either lost track of pensions or know where they are but not what they’re worth, leaving 64 per cent 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 bank accounts (93 per cent), ISAs and other savings (83 per cent), tax information (50 per cent), benefit information (55 per cent) and energy usage (73 per cent).

Commenting, Mumsnet founder and CEO Justine Roberts 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.”

The ABI, which has been managing the development to the pensions dashboard, said the 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.

ABI director of long-term savings and protection policy Yvonne Braun 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.”

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