The panic surrounding pensions seems to easing amongst British workers, with Aon Consulting reporting a nine per cent fall in the number of scheme members requesting their projected pension based on current savings.

The employee benefits and risk management firm said the latest figures from its Pensions Admin Tracker do still, however, show a 36 per cent increase in requests when compared to the corresponding quarter in 2008. There was also a 17 per cent fall in the number of requests for information in relation to the current pound-value of a member's pension pot.

"The reduction in member requests for retirement information and transfer out quotations during periods when leading stock markets exhibit substantial increases suggests that confidence in retirement savings is returning," commented Colin Hamilton, commercial director at Aon Consulting.

"However, if stock market performance is dictating confidence levels among savers, this would suggest a lack of understanding of the long-term nature of pension saving."

The results also showed a 37 per cent decline in the number of new workers joining pension schemes, which Aon says reflects the fall in recruitment activity in the UK. Only 0.01 per cent of the members sampled made changes to where their defined contribution (DC) pension savings are invested, the same result as last year.

"Effective member communication and education has an essential role to play in explaining the long-term nature of saving for retirement and ensuring that members are well informed during periods of economic volatility so that they do not rely on equity markets to solely dictate their concerns," Hamilton added.

350,000 scheme members from 35 typical UK DC and defined benefit (DB) schemes were sampled.

Share Story: